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GROWTH AND EDUCATION 



GROWTH AND EDUCATION 



BY 



JOHN MASON JYLER 

Professor of Biology in Amherst College 
Autlwr of The Whence and the Whither of Man 




BOSTON AND NEW YORK 

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 

1^07 



LB iisls 



COPYRIGHT 1907 BY JOHN MASON TYLKR 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



U. 8, Soldiers Home Uk 

JUL 3 1941 



PREFACE 

Some years ago I became greatly interested in the ques- 
tion bow a cbild grows. Principal Burk's monographs 
gave full information concerning growth in height and 
weight, and concerning some of the most important 
changes in the nervous system. Professor Donaldson 
had told us of the growth of the brain. Concerning the 
growth of heart, lungs, and other organs, I could find 
at first but little information. I found an abundance 
of books concerning diseases of children, but not one 
attempting to give a complete account of the growth 
of all the systems in the normal or average child. 

It looked as if we had been rearing and training our 
children without ever asking whether the child entering 
school was merely a small edition of the adult, or some- 
thing quite different. We seemed to have been attempt- 
ing by education at home and at school to supply the 
child's needs without having first asked what those needs 
were, and whether they differed slightly or greatly at 
different ages. 

It seemed to be of the greatest importance to dis- 
cover first of all whether all organs needed exercise 
equally at all ages, or whether every organ had its spe- 
cial epoch or epochs when exercise was more profitable 
than earlier or later. In the latter case we needed to 
know what organs at every epoch most needed exercise, 
and of what kind and amount. Furthermore, it would 
be useful to parents and teachers to know whether 



vi PREFACE 

children and youtli have the same or steadily increas- 
ing vigor, endurance, and power of resisting disease or 
adverse conditions at all ages, or whether there are 
periods of less power of resistance, when leniency and 
care are necessary. 

Later I became surprised at the large amount of 
material concerning the growth of different organs and 
systems which is scattered through medical and other 
journals or in separate monographs. The chapters in 
this volume on the growth of the child are based on 
a large amount of this material arranged and tabulated. 
At first I intended to publish the tables as an appendix 
in this volume. But I preferred to defer their publica- 
tion until I had gathered much more material and had 
gained answers to certain important but difficult ques- 
tions. 

I have taken for granted the often forgotten or 
neglected axiom that a healthy physical growth and 
development are daring childhood more important than 
any amount of learning. In the first chapter I have 
tried to show that physical training and education are 
more needed to-day than ever before. The facts of 
human evolution, briefly discussed in the second chap- 
ter, seem to prove that, until the human stage is fully 
attained, the muscular system is the head and the stra- 
tegic centre of development rather than the brain. In 
other words, the brain is developed through the exercise 
of the sense-organs and the muscles rather than these 
through the training of the brain. In this respect the 
young child resembles the animal. If the higher mental 
powers of the brain do not awaken until the eleventh 
or twelfth year, it is of little use to attempt to train 
them before this time. If, during all these earlier years, 



PREFACE vii 

the muscles are needing and craving exercise, we cer- 
tainly should do well to meet and satisfy these needs. 

The balance of organs in the child's body, in other 
words his constitution in the literal derivative sense, is 
quite different at different epochs. The great mental 
changes during youth and early manhood are familiar 
to us all. The physical changes during childhood and 
early youth are equally great, but often pass unnoticed 
or but poorly understood. Yet these physical changes 
modify or cause certain traits in the child. What ap- 
pears to us carelessness or clownishness in gait or 
behavior may be due to immature muscles. Poor eye- 
sight and defective hearing often cause the child to 
be considered stupid. The young girl is often blamed 
for lack of application when the real cause of her poor 
success in school work is lack of outdoor exercise and 
of sufficient lung capacity. 

We wisely desire that our children should form right 
habits of physical, mental, and moral behavior. This 
is well. But let us not forget that the child must think 
and act as a child. Most of his childish instincts and 
cravings are wise and healthy, even though they appear 
rude and unsatisfactory to us. What appears faulty, 
when judged by adult standards, may be normal, natu- 
ral, and beneficent in the child. Many of his failings 
are due to immaturity, and he will outgrow them of 
himself in due time. We need to learn when not to 
notice, as well as when and how to correct. The parent 
who knows and understands the laws of growth will 
have more faith, hope, and courage, and will be spared 
much needless anxiety. 

When one has studied the different epochs of child 
life, he cannot fail to see how admirably the life on 



viii PREFACE 

the New England farm a half-century ago was fitted 
to promote physical and mental growth and develop- 
ment. The debt of New England to the farm has never 
been duly recognized. The preponderance of town and 
city, and the changes in farm life, have resulted in the 
loss of certain elements of the education of our fathers 
which we can very ill afford to spare. These losses 
have greatly decreased the efficiency of the home in 
education, and have thrown a far heavier burden of 
responsibility on the school. Hence our education is 
often criticised as unpractical and not suited to fit boys 
and girls for life. The present condition is certainly 
not the fault of the teachers, nor altogether that of the 
parents. New burdens have been thrown upon the school 
almost without warning. The educator has to face new 
and very difficult problems. Our present system has not 
been able to reform and change front quickly enough to 
meet the new emergency. But the emergency must be 
met, and it will be met mainly by the school. Hence 
parents and teachers need to know and understand one 
another ; and to work in harmony, unison, and mutual 
help and support. 

This book is intended to be an introduction to the study 
of the growth of the child. Hence the most important 
part of it is the bibliography. If I can introduce teach- 
ers and parents to the monographs and articles cited, I 
shall surely have done them a service. I have attempted 
to select articles which are accessible, accurate, and 
trustworthy, and not too technical. I am well aware of 
the incompleteness of the bibliography. Much of what- 
ever excellence it may possess is due to the great kind- 
ness and patience of Dr. Louis N. Wilson, Librarian of 
Clark University. I am under great obligation to 



PREFACE IX 

liim and his assistants for many services and acts of 
kindness. 

I wish to express my thanks to President G. Stanley 
Hall for many helpful suggestions and for his unfailing 
kindness and encouragement. I am under great obliga- 
tion to Drs. Hitchcock, Ho]t, Porter, Hastings, and 
Hall, for permission to use the material in the tables. 
I wish to thank Dr. E. M. Hartwell for permission to use 
his table of mortality of Boston children. Part of the 
material has been used in lectures in Boston, under 
the auspices of the Committee of Education of the 
Twentieth Century Club. To them I am very grateful 
for a great opportunity and for many kindnesses. 

J. M. T. 

Amhebst, Massachusetts, 1907. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER I 

Present Needs in Education 

Systems of education must be suited to needs of place and time. 
New England a century ago. Farm-work in the open air. Educa- 
tion on the farm. New England to-day. Cities. Sedentary life. 
Wealth and class distinctions. Need of physical and moral vigor. 
The man of power . » 1 

CHAPTER II 

Man in the Light of Evolution 

Complexity of the human body. Stages in its development : 
protozoan, zoophytie, animal, human. Complexity of muscular 
system, and effects of its development. Development of nervous 
system : cerebellum, midbrain, cortex, Flechsig's association areas. 
Use of nervous system. Practical considerations and results . . 25 

CHAPTER III 

Hints from Embryology 

Development of the chicken. Nature's "blunders." Metamor- 
phosis. Provisional structures. Instincts. Three stages of growth 
of every organ. The craving for exercise. Interests. Embryotic 
recapitulation of racial development 49 

CHAPTER IV 

Growth in Weight and Height 

Growth in weight of males and females. Growth in height. 
cJhest-girth. Rhythms of growth. Proportions of the body . . , 63 



xii CONTENTS 

CHAPTER V 

Growth of the N euro-Muscular System 

Absolute and relative weight of muscles at different ages. 
Weight of different groups of muscles. Ratio of strength of fore- 
arm to area of cross-section. Growth of the brain. Development 
and maturing of nerve-cells. Order of development of parts. Sue- 
cession of interests 69 

CHAPTER VI 

Growth of the Visceral Organs 

Digestive System. Liver. Kidneys. Heart and arteries. Lungs : 
weight and capacity. Metabolism in child and adult. Amount of 
food required at different ages. Amount of oxygen used, and of 
energy produced. Use of material for growth 81 

CHAPTER VII 

Mortality and Morbidity 

Mortality at different ages. Morbidity in Denmark, Sweden, 
and Germany, in boys and girls. Overpressure and fatigue ... 92 

CHAPTER VIII 

Constitution and Periods of Life 

Constitution as inlierited ; as the result of the size and balance of 
organs. Differences in constitution at different ages. Periods of 
life. Infancy and adolescence. Periods of transition and of pre- 
paration. Nature's tests and examinations. The pubertal meta- 
morphosis. Triennial epochs 104 

CHAPTER IX 

The First Three Years of the Child's Life 

Size and growth of infant. Surface and mass. Sensitiveness to 
cold. Metabolism. Need of food, air, sunshine, sleep. Mortality. 
Constitution. Training of nervous system 115 



CONTENTS xiii 

CHAPTER X 

The Kindergarten Period 

Size and growth of child. Metabolism. Food. Mortality. Mor- 
bidity. A sensory period ; but heavy muscles crave exercise. Plays. 
Content of mind. Sensory training 129 

CHAPTER XI 

The Child entering School 

Size and growth. Heart. Constitution. Mortality and mor- 
bidity. Preparation for pubertal metamorphosis. Interests. 
Weakness and discouragement. Training suited to epoch. Learn- 
ing by imitation. Habits. Feelings. Importance of epoch. Stories. 
Effects of school life, The epoch viewed from the standpoint of 
racial development 139 

CHAPTER XII 

The Girl and the Boy in the Grammar Grades 

Size and growth. Retardation. Acceleration of increase in 
height. Readjustment and increase in height an expensive process. 
Relative small size of trunk. Pubertal metamorphosis : its vital 
importance. Waste and its removal. Importance of lung capacity. 
Modern conditions and the health of the girl. Her small vital ca- 
pacity and its increase through exercise. Lack of play and games. 
School life. Preparation for college. Home life. Changes needed. 
A plea for mercy 156 

CHAPTER XIII 

The Boy and the Girl in the High School 

Size and development. Mortality and morbidity. Constitution : 
its effect upon mind and character. Period of instability and of 
mental metamorphosis. Reign of the heart. Ethics. Religious 
development. The new life. Examinations for entrance to college. 
Methods of teaching. Character building. Hero-worship. The 
" everlasting miracle " 179 

CHAPTER XIV 
Physical Training — Place of Play in Education 
Physical training needed at all periods for growth and develop- 



xiv CONTENTS 

ment. An essential part of school work. Effect upon the mind. 
School gardens. The play instinct. Classification of plays and 
games ; their hygienic value. Mental, social, and moral training 
through games. Friendships of the play-ground. Habits of study. 
Locke and others concerning play. Teachers and play. Athletics. 198 



CHAPTER XV 

Physical Training — Gymnastics 

Meaning and purpose of gymnastics. Need. Hygienic gym- 
nastics. Effects. Gymnastics in the school-room. Anthropometry 
in the school 218 

CHAPTER XVI 

Manual Training 

Manual training as brain training. Suited to all classes of so- 
ciety. Laboratory work. Effect upon will. Practical advantages. 
Needed by girl and boy who go to college. Respect for handcraft. 
The boy who does not take to books. Industrial training. Manual 
training needed by girls 228 

CHAPTER XVII 

Retrospect and Summary 

Health a necessity. Vital organs and muscles. Growth the 
business of the young child ; education must promote and not 
hinder it. Physical training essential in lower grades, but needed 
in higher also. Effect of loss of farm life on education. Criticisms 
of present system. Physical training and mental ability. Develop- 
ment of the will. Need of change of emphasis in present system, 
not of a revolution. Advantages of change. Hindrances : thought- 
lessness, conservatism, the friends of learning. Our failure to 
appreciate that changed conditions demand corresponding changes 
in our system of education. Cooperation between parents and school 242 

Appendix 261 

A. Tables 263 

B. Bibliography 271 

Index •• 293 



GROWTH AND EDUCATION 



GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

CHAPTER I 

PRESENT NEEDS IN EDUCATION 

It was a favorite maxim of Socrates that, if a thing is 
good, it surely must be good for something. What is 
an education good for? This much-abused word has 
been used in many senses. Its definitions vary greatly. 
Higher mammals were educated by their parents before 
man appeared on the globe. The lowest savage tribes 
educate their children, and their systems of education 
are often interesting and instructive. Great thinkers 
from the most remote times have written on the sub- 
ject. But we are still disputing over definitions, and 
the ideal system has not yet been discovered. 

What we most need is not so much a complete, 
accurate definition, as some criterion by which we can 
test our present systems and methods, and see whether 
they are accomplishing all that we can reasonably 
expect from them. Our test must be one which can 
be easily and readily applied, if it is to be of practical 
use. This thought of Socrates, that a good thing must 
be good for something, may, perhaps, furnish us a 
standpoint from which we may wisely view our present 
systems, and seek to discover possible improvements. 

If any one could discover or frame a system of educa- 
tion which would enable the child and the man to avoid 
or to cope with the dangers of life, and to seize its 



2 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

opportunities; in one word, to meet its emergencies 
successfully, lie would evidently render us a great 
service. Sucli a system would be exceedingly useful. 
Seizing tlie opportunities of life means making the 
most of ourselves physically, mentally, and morally; 
it implies health, vigor, and power; knowledge and 
wisdom ; goodness and love ; use, service, and the 
highest joy. It means making the most and best of 
this goodly world in which we live, and framing from 
our surroundings an environment to which we may 
wisely conform, and hence survive and progress. Op- 
portunity is limitless ; we fail to recognize and grasp it. 

But the dangers and opportunities, in one word the 
emergencies, of state and individual are not the same 
in different places and times. Every state frames its 
system of education to meet its own dangers and to 
grasp its special opportunities, and to enable its citi- 
zens to do the same. The dangers of the German 
state and citizen are evidently not the same as ours. 
A nation in the middle of Europe, with few natural 
boundaries and surrounded by warlike neighbors, has 
dangers which we find it hard to appreciate. Differ- 
ences in soil, climate, and natural advantages, in gov- 
ernment, traditions, and social conditions, give to the 
individual citizen opportunities and emergencies differ- 
ent from ours. Hence a system of education which 
would be exactly suited to German needs would not 
suit American conditions. We may learn much from 
the German, and he from us ; but neither one of us 
can safely copy the other. We have our own dangers 
and opportunities, and must meet them as best we may. 

Similarly a system of education suited to the needs 
of one period of our national development will natu- 



PRESENT NEEDS IN EDUCATION 3 

rally be inadequate when conditions liave changed to 
any great extent. In the eighteenth century New Eng- 
land was peopled with a comparatively homogeneous 
English stock. It was as vigorous, sturdy, and tough 
a race as the world has ever seen. English climate and 
conditions had given it marvelous strength and endur- 
ance. The boldest and most vigorous had been sifted 
out for the planting of the New World. It was leading 
an agricultural life, of manual labor, largely in the 
open air of the country. The birth-rate was very high, 
and the population increased with marvelous rapidity.^ 
The transfer of the somewhat heavy English Puritan 
stock to the nerve-tonic of our bracing air, new condi- 
tions and emergencies, and the spur of necessity, had 
roused all the mental powers of this marvelous people. 
They were keen, quick, shrewd, inventive. 

They were scattered in small towns and villages, each 
one of which was more remote from its nearest neigh- 
bor than is New York from Boston or Chicago to-day. 
Every village was fringed with farms scattered over the 
hills, wherever a man could wring a living from the soil 
between the ledges. Wealth and luxury were almost 
unknown, the farms furnished the necessities of life. 
Behind them stretched the wilderness, tempting the ad- 
venturous as well as the shiftless to a life of barbarism, 
if not of savagery. Educated men were rare, books few 
and expensive. No wonder that the first settlers feared 
that learning would be buried in the graves of their 
ministers. Illiteracy and barbarism were very real dan- 
gers in those days ; from wealth, luxury, and the evils 
of overcrowding they had little to fear. 

The stress and strain of life bore heaviest on the 

^ Walker, ' ' Restriction of Immigration, " Atlantic, vol. Ixxvii, 1896. 



4 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

tough muscular system. This rested and recovered 
quickly, for the sleep of the laboring man was sweet. 
There was little competition. Life was simple, often 
very monotonous. Even an Indian raid must have been 
a welcome change. Opportunities were few. Children 
looked forward to the time when they would clear a 
farm, and establish a household, as their fathers had 
done before them. 

These Puritan ancestors of ours were not all saints. 
They often drank heavily, quarreled outrageously, and 
varied the monotony of respectability by the rudest 
outbursts of animal, if not beastly, tendencies. Even 
their wit and jokes were often cruel. Those who dis- 
agreed with them were summarily banished. Life is 
certainly much pleasanter in the twentieth century. 

Education was gained mostly at home. In the large 
families the children educated one another. The farm 
offered more opportunities for physical exercise than 
the child or boy wished. His labor was needed; "he 
was a member of the firm." When the forest had been 
cleared, the stumps burned or uprooted, and the walls 
built, there were endless jobs for him. Stones had to 
be picked up, and every plowing brought up a new 
crop. The animals had to be cared for, wood and kind- 
lings had to be provided daily. AU the light work fell 
upon the children. Very early they shared, as far as 
possible, the labor of the adults. Nature study was 
forced upon them. 

The farm was a hive or laboratory of manual train- 
ing.^ The farmer and his boys had to be carpenters, 

^ Hall, " Boy-Life in a Country Town a Quarter of a Century Ago," 
Proc. Am. Ant. Soc, Worcester, October, 1890 ; Abstract in Ped. Sem. 
£, 232 ; Bailey, Outlook to Nature, p. 154. 



PRESENT NEEDS IN EDUCATION 5 

cabinet-makers, blacksmiths, wood-turners, chair-seaters, 
basket-makers, all at once. There was hardly a trade 
or handicraft of which they did not have some experi- 
ence. Responsibility fell upon them early, and they 
had to meet countless emergencies as best they could. 
Necessity was the mother of invention. The girls did 
housework, spun and wove; made butter and cheese; 
learned to dye, and bake, and brew. They were often 
as good farmers as their brothers. Boys and girls had 
to make their own playthings, as weU as a host of other 
things for the whole family. 

President Hall^ in his article on Moral Education 
has well said: "Ten days at the hoe-handle, axe, or 
pitchfork, as an eminent educator has said in sub- 
stance, with no new impression from without and one 
constant and only duty, is a schooling in perseverance 
and sustained effort such as few boys now get in any 
shape." 

The child saw but few books at home. The Bible 
was the usual library, with one or two volumes of ser- 
mons, and perhaps "Pilgrim's Progress" for fiction. 
A book was a rarity and a treasure. Learning was pos- 
sible only for the very few. The child respected and 
coveted it as much as his father or mother did. The 
very best use of the few weeks spent in school was to 
devote it wholly to book-study. It is very imfortunate 
that so well-balanced, wise, and practical a system of 
education is no longer possible. 

The dangers and opportunities of the twentieth cen- 
tury are quite other than those of the eighteenth. Mr. 
Gladstone 2 estimated that as much real wealth was 

1 HaU, " Moral Education and Will-Training," Fed. Sem. ii, 73. 

2 Loomis, Modern Cities, p. 43. 



6 GKOWTH AND EDUCATION 

produced during the first haK of the nineteenth cen« 
tury as during the preceding eighteen hundred years. 
An equal amount was produced during the next quar- 
ter-century. Probably quite as much has been added 
since 1875. Between 1860 and 1880 the wealth of 
the United States increased three times as fast as its 
population. 

As wealth increases, men are no longer content with 
food and raiment. There is a steadily increasing de- 
mand for manufactured articles, and more money for 
their purchase. Hence the growth of factories, the 
crowding of population in manufacturing centres, and 
the consequent dangers to health and morals. 

New means of communication have made the fertile 
prairies accessible, agricultural tools and machinery 
have been invented or improved. It has been esti- 
mated that the average farmer with horses can do with 
three men the work formerly done by fourteen, and 
can do it better. The Eastern farmer cannot compete 
with his Western brother. This means displacement of 
population on a grand scale. The people, especially the 
energetic, ambitious, and strongest intellectually, pour 
from the country into the city. 

President Carroll D. Wright ^ tells us that between 
1790 and 1880 the population of the United States 
increased about sixteen-fold ; the population of cities 
and towns having more than 8000 inhabitants increased 
almost 140-fold. In 1790 about one thirty-third of the 
population lived in such towns and cities; in 1890 
about one third. In 1890 there were about seventy-five 
times as many towns and cities as in 1790. In 1870 
there were fourteen cities having more than 100,000 

^Wright, " Lessons from the Census," Pop. Sci. Mo.y xlvi, 459. 



PRESENT NEEDS IN EDUCATION 7 

inhabitants; in 1880, twenty; in 1890, twenty-eight. 
More than one half of the population of the North 
Atlantic States live in towns or cities. In some or 
most of these states the rural population has actually 
decreased. 

The great city, with its vast opportunities for good 
and evil, its wealth and luxury, its poverty and misery, 
its vice and crime, with its heterogeneous population, 
and contrasts of race, creed, class, and condition, has 
confronted us suddenly with its almost insoluble pro- 
blems. Life in a great city has its advantages, but the 
poor are many, and their condition is often sad 
enough. 

Read the report of the Council of Hygiene to the 
Citizens' Association as to the sanitary condition of 
the tenements of the city of New York in 1867.^ It 
speaks of them as rapidly becoming the " nests of fever 
and infection, and the poisonous abodes of physical 
decay." The Tenement House Commission of 1900 
reports that the present type of tenement gives to its 
occupants less light and less ventilation, less fire pro- 
tection and less comfortable surroundings than the aver- 
age tenement of fifty years ago.^ The air of the great 
city is spoiled by smoke, decay, and germs ; sunshine 
is kept out of the deep and narrow streets, soil and 
ground water are polluted. No wonder that the death- 
rate of London rises alarmingly when fogs blanket the 
city. No wonder that the death-rate from consumption 
for the state of New York was not far from twice as 
great in cities of over 25,000 inhabitants as in the rest 

^ Loomis, Modern Cities, p. 36. 

2 First Report of the Tenement House Department of the City of New 
York, pp. 5, 6. 



8 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

of the state.* Let us not forget that consumption is 
not merely a death-scourge, but a symptom of bad 
heredity and surroundings, and of weak constitution. 
There is some reason to fear that cities having a 
population of 50,000 to 100,000 inhabitants are less 
healthy than the largest. They appear to have over- 
stepped the danger limit in size without having yet 
taken proper sanitary precautions. 

How many children go to school breakfastless, or at 
least hungry ? Mr. Hunter guesses 50,000 in New York 
City. Let us hope and cheerfully assume that he has 
greatly exaggerated the number. It is a fair-sized army 
in one city alone. A parliamentary committee reports 
even worse conditions in manufacturing cities in Eng- 
land. These children grow up weak, stunted, inefficient, 
hopeless. They fill our poor-houses, reformatories, and 
jails. They become the derelicts of society. They will 
have children like themselves, or weaker. 

But the poor are not the only sufferers. The great 
middle class is in some respects at a still greater dis- 
advantage. The children of the poor play in the streets. 
The child of the middle class is usually not allowed 
this advantage. He finds very little useful employment 
or exercise. He is almost entirely deprived of active 
and vigorous play or work in the open air during the 
years when he most needs these opportunities. 

It is a fact beyond all doubt that a very large frac- 
tion of our population has exchanged rural for urban 
life during the last two generations. It is equally indis- 
putable that, as fast as we can, we are exchanging a life 
of muscular effort in the open air for one of brain-work 
indoors. We avoid manual labor. The farms are de- 

* Handbook of Prevention of Tuberculosis, p. 74. 



PRESENT NEEDS IN EDUCATION 9 

serted ; store, office, and desks are crowded. Operatives 
in our factories object to having their children receive 
manual training ; they wish them to gain accomplish- 
ments which wiU fit them for business or professional 
life. We can hardly blame them. 

We have exchanged a life of simplicity and monotony 
for one of great variety and complexity. The strain, 
which used to be mainly muscular, now rests heaviest 
on the youngest and most delicate portions of the 
nervous system. This strain is very severe. Professor 
Huxley has well said that the struggle for comfort is 
far more cruel than the struggle for existence. Com- 
petition and a feverish longing for wealth and luxury, 
accompanied by discontent, fret, and worry, diminish 
the joy and increase the wear of work. Such a revolu- 
tion in our habits and conditions of life affects the 
balance and working of all our organs. 

Dr. Baxter,! j^ j^jg report of the Provost-Marshal- 
General's Bureau, tells us that nearly three fourths of 
all the teachers examined as to their fitness for military 
service in the War of the Rebellion were rejected as 
unfit; of physicians and clergymen, two thirds; of 
laborers and farmers, one third. There is, he continues, 
a steady increase of disease as we ascend the so-called 
social scale from the man who works with his heavy 
muscles only to those who rely on cerebral to the prac- 
tical exclusion of muscular work. Even if the profes- 
sion is the refuge of the weak, as Dr. Baxter suggests, 
and not the cause of their weakness, the child of the 
professional man is in danger, at least, of inheriting a 
low tone of vitality. 

1 Baxter, Medical Statistics of the Provost-Mar shal-GeneraVs Bureau, 
i, chart xxxiy. 



10 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

It seems clear that nervousness in tlie sense of nerV' 
ous weakness or fatigue, or of lack of nervous strength 
and endurance, has increased rapidly during the last 
half-century.^ As Beard has shown, its cause is modern 
civilization with its haste, worry, and strain upon the 
highest, finest, and weakest brain centres. Supple- 
mentary causes are a dry, bracing climate, and our 
social, political, and religious institutions and habits. 

The signs of this increasing weakness, or of decrease 
of resisting power, are clear and many. We cannot 
endure the amount of alcoholic drinks, narcotics, drugs, 
or excesses which our ancestors tolerated. Sensitive- 
ness to heat and cold, insomnia and early breakdown, 
premature baldness, point in the same direction. Even 
the fine, " chiseled " features and the quick, mobile 
play of expression of our American girls are signs of 
a dangerously sensitive nervous system. Thus Beard 
argues, and there is certainly some ground for his con- 
clusions. 

But it is very probable that the nervous system is 
affected by sedentary life to a large extent indirectly 
through the weakening of the digestive and assimilat- 
ive powers. The sedentary man or woman can digest 
only the lightest food. The essential fats are almost 
tabooed ; pork is fast becoming intolerable. Without 
abundant air and exercise a sound digestion is, of 
course, impossible. We crave concentrated and stimu- 
lating foods, especially the albuminoids of meat. The 
excess of albumen brings a heavy strain on the kidneys, 
and they weaken and become diseased. The incom- 
pletely digested food ferments in the alimentary canal, 
and the whole body, especially the brain, is poisoned or 

^ Beard, American Nervousness. 



PRESENT NEEDS IN EDUCATION 11 

depressed. Sedentary workers suffer greatly from con- 
stipation, which leads to similar results. Hence the 
commonness of nervous dyspepsia, a double root of 
every sort of evil and mischief. With such conditions 
and modes of life, anything very different is hardly to 
be expected. 

Heart, lungs, and kidneys owe their development 
and present power to the demands and stimuli of the 
muscular system ; and these stimuli greatly increase 
the efficiency of our digestive and assimilative tissues. 
It was sensation and motion, not thought or learning, 
which laid the foundations of the brain, and stimulated 
the development of all its centres. Our internal organs 
can and will respond to all reasonable demands of our 
muscular system. It is an inherited habit. They re- 
quire these customary motor stimuli to maintain them 
in their best condition. Without them, as in sedentary 
life, they degenerate, and invite, if they do not pro- 
duce, disease. 

The death-rate does not rise proportionally to the 
increase of morbidity. Neurasthenics are exceedingly 
cautious and careful of themselves. They generally 
-'ixist through a long period of invalidism. The case of 
the nervous dyspeptic is similar in a less degree. But 
it is not the kind of long life which we desire for our- 
selves or for our children. 

A second fact demands our careful consideration. 
The higher we ascend in the social scale, the greater 
is the sensitiveness to pain. What is actually painful 
to the professional man is hardly more than disagree- 
able to the laborer. Rosenbach and other good physi- 
ologists maintain that this sensitiveness is increased, if 
it may not be caused, by lack of motor exercise. This 



12 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

hypersensitiveness tends to produce timidity and hesi- 
tation, and is a most important causal factor in hysteria 
and similar weaknesses, as well as a symptom and re- 
sult of the lower tone of vitality throughout the body. 
A good physiologist has well said: "Health comes 
in through the muscles, and flies out through the 
nerves." 

It is universally admitted, I believe, that sedentary, 
indoor life, especially if accompanied by excessive men- 
tal labor, acting upon any except the very strongest 
nervous system is likely to result in general weakness, 
probably manifesting itself largely through the nervous 
system ; and that the cure for this condition is to be 
sought in rest, open air and sunshine, in muscular 
exercise suited to the patient's powers, and in escape 
from the worry which is at once symptom and worst 
cause of over-fatigue. We have thus far noticed a few 
of the results of modern changes in conditions and 
habits of life in males. That similar causes have re- 
sulted in similar, perhaps more marked, effects upon 
the American woman, can hardly be doubted. The 
fathers and mothers have sinned, and too frequently the 
children's teeth are set on edge. They do not inherit 
disease directly, but they are born and grow up with 
a lower vitality and often with a morbid predisposition. 

Two classes of children in our public schools to-day 
demand our special attention. First, the children of 
business and professional men. Some or many of these 
are congenitally liable to nervous weakness, or are 
suffering from low vitality. They must be guarded 
from, and strengthened against, their dangers. Second, 
the brighter, more promising, and more ambitious 
children of every class. Both these classes will prob- 



PRESENT NEEDS IN EDUCATION 13 

ably enter mercantile or professional careers, and both 
must be fortified accordingly. They should furnish our 
legislators and leaders a few years hence. A tough 
body and a sound nervous system are absolutely essen- 
tial to them both. 

Muscular exercise and fresh air are absolutely neces- 
sary to the child to promote growth and development 
of all the vital organs, the brain included. If the motor 
centres are not well developed, the adult becomes an 
unpractical dreamer, ever, as President Walker has 
said, "standing shivering on the brink of action;" 
always planning, hoping, or criticising, never creating 
or realizing. The motor centres must be developed 
early, if at all. 

The average child needs far more outdoor exercise 
to-day than a century ago. He actually has far less 
than used to be furnished by the farm. In the city he 
has very little, if any at all. We must not forget that 
the child begins going to school much younger, and 
that the school year is almost three times as long as 
then. We are already planning summer schools to 
keep him busy, and to take him off our hands, for the 
rest of the year. 

But moral health and welfare is at least fully as 
important as physical. The great increase of wealth 
and its accumulation in the hands of a few are fraught 
with moral dangers to the state and to the citizen. I 
can find no record in history that any state has perished 
through poverty or hardship. But few states or indi- 
viduals can long endure prosperity or luxury. It is very 
likely to breed flabbiness of tissue, if not rottenness of 
the bones. Prophets and seers of all ages have dreaded 
and denounced the accumulation of great wealth. We 



14 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

must recognize and face this danger, and gird our loins 
to meet it. 

Wealth and physical comfort loom large before our 
eyes. We all see and reasonably desire the comfort 
or luxury enjoyed by the few. Everywhere we see the 
desire, if not the cold-blooded intent, to get something 
for nothing, to attain fame or fortune without giving 
an equivalent of honest work in return. The isolation 
which made our forefathers hunger for neighbors has 
given place to overcrowding, where each man must push 
and struggle for place and livelihood. Never have men 
planned more shrewdly or worked harder to get a liv- 
ing. Far less thought is given to living the life of the 
highest enjojrments and attainments. Idealism is at 
a heavy discount ; the tangible and the eatable are the 
realities. Crude materialism is the practical philosophy 
and policy of too large a part of our population. Such 
conditions do not tend to produce men of great hearts 
and of broad sympathies. Yet " out of the heart are 
the issues of life." The invisible forms a very small 
part of our environment; yet it still remains true that 
" the things which are not seen are eternal." " Where 
there is no vision the people perish." 

The opportunities are equally great. Men are 
awakening to the responsibilities of wealth and cul- 
ture, power and knowledge. Never was charity more 
broad and active. Everywhere we see signs of a soul- 
hunger after something sure, true, and grand, which is 
almost pathetic. There is more religion in the world 
than ever before. Soon it will crystallize in new and 
fairer forms. Hopeful signs are tenfold more numer- 
ous and clear than discouraging symptoms. 

In some way we must rear a race of men and women 



PRESENT NEEDS IN EDUCATION 15 

who can ward off the dangers and seize the limitless 
opportunities. They must be men and women of power, 
who can neither be bribed nor frightened, and who will 
be heard. Child-labor, defrauding of the poor, corrup- 
tion and bribery, evils as great as slavery, are firmly 
intrenched, and defended by all the resources of wealth 
and influence. It is no easy task to dislodge them. 
Capable, wise, and strong leaders are needed to organ- 
ize the overwhelming forces for good. We need 
men and women of knowledge, intelligence, patience, 
wisdom; of unwavering faith in the principles of 
"government of the people, by the people, and for the 
people ; " of profound moral and religious convictions 
■and loyalty. Above all, they must be " strong and of 
a very good courage." Such we must furnish. 

Evidently our system of education must be continu- 
ally modified to meet new conditions, if it is to train 
boys and girls to meet the emergencies and seize the 
opportunities of modern life. The ideal system is the 
one which best meets the vital problems of the present 
and the near future. One hundred years ago the school 
could rightly lay all its emphasis on books and learn- 
ing. These the home could not supply. But home and 
farm could and did insure physical health and vigor, 
all kinds of manual training, ingenuity, perseverance, 
and efficiency. Now the school must furnish all these, 
as well as mental discipline and culture. Especially it 
must insure nervous strength, vigor, poise, and endur- 
ance. In one word, it must be an institution of power 
as well as of learning. 

What are the sources of power and efficiency in the 
strong man or woman ? How can we promote strength 
and power ? Look at a great ocean liner plowing its 



16 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

way through the water. You see the captain and steers- 
man and the officers, the mast with perhaps a sail to 
steady the ship. Go down into the furnace-room, and 
you will find grimy, half-naked men shoveling coal 
into the furnaces. These men do not dine in the saloon, 
or strut on deck ; they drive the ship. The power is in 
the steam furnished by the combustion of the coal. 

Similarly in our bodies the ultimate source of power 
is in the digestive system. This must furnish material 
for growth and fuel for our nervous and muscular cells. 
Every one of these is a microscopic engine and burns 
fuel. But the engine must have a powerful draft to 
bring in oxygen and to carry off smoke and other pro- 
ducts of combustion. So the second essential of power 
is good lungs, large enough to give the blood all the 
oxygen which it can carry, and thoroughly to remove 
the carbon dioxide. The kidneys must also be vigorous 
and active to remove the nitrogenous waste. Otherwise 
all the organs will be clogged and poisoned. The heart 
must be large and strong to carry fuel and oxygen 
swiftly to the cells, and to remove their waste. And 
the whole organism must work economically without 
waste of energy. 

In a badly constructed engine the draft is insuffi- 
cient. The coal is only half -burned and it is impossible 
to get up steam. The steam is wasted by leakage, or is 
poorly applied so that its energy is very incompletely 
utilized. The cylinder was not properly planned, and 
the movements of the machinery are irregular and 
jerky. There is much friction, and the bearings heat. 
The engine is too large or too small for the furnace 
and boilers. Its parts are not properly proportioned. 
Only a smaU amount of energy is produced, and most 



PRESENT NEEDS IN EDUCATION 17 

of this is wasted. The engine is frequently or usually 
in the repair-shop. Many men and women are like 
such inefficient and uneconomical engines. 

The energy must all be utilized, and wisely and eco- 
nomically expended. This is insured by a healthy, 
firm, and steady nervous system. The original and 
fundamental use of the nervous system is to insure 
that every sensory stimulus shall call forth a muscular 
response suited to meet the emergency. A fly alights 
on my face and tickles my skin. This stimulates an 
organ of feeling and excites a nerve centre. It sends a 
motor impulse to the muscles of hand and arm to drive 
the fly away. I see an apple, go to it, pick it, and eat 
it. I hear and smell an automobile, jump from the 
road, and escape with my life. The day's work is a 
series of muscular responses to sensory stimuli, nothing 
more nor less. 

Hence it is of the utmost importance that the nerv- 
ous system should rouse to action exactly and only 
those muscles which can do the needed work, should 
stimulate their action only so long and so far as wiU 
meet the emergency. Many of us waste every day 
enough energy to more than double our efficiency. We 
waste it in fret, hurry, and worry. We consume in one 
movement twice or thrice as much as is needed. All 
our muscles are tense, when nine tenths of them were 
better relaxed. Then there is the " hair-trigger " nerv- 
ous system which continually caUs for action when 
there is no need or emergency. No wonder that we 
accomplish little and still become very weary. The 
trained athlete is very economical in his expenditure of 
energy. 

The character of our actions and of our life depends 



18 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

very largely upon the direction followed by the outgo- 
ing motor impulses. Three men were on the road, two 
Jews and a Samaritan. All three saw a poor Jew lying 
by the roadside. The light reflected from the poor fel- 
low's body fell on the retinae of their eyes, and sent 
a wave of sensory impulses to the brain alike in all 
three. In all three motor impulses went out from the 
brain to the muscles. In the Samaritan these went to 
the arms mainly. He stooped and raised and tended 
the sufferer. In the Jews the motor impulses all went 
to the legs, and the cowards hustled off toward Jericho. 
A large part of education should consist in a proper 
training of the motor side of the brain, and of the 
proper use of the muscles. Thus far we have spoken of 
man almost as if he were a machine or an automaton. 
He is this and far more beside. It is the mental char- 
acters which have " raised him far above his humbler 
fellows." Our man of power is a man of strong and 
steady will and of firm purpose, from which he is not 
easily moved or dissuaded. He has a strong will be- 
cause he feels deeply and intensely. We shall see later 
how great emphasis Nature lays on the heart. 

The efficient man not only feels and wills powerfully, 
he sees things exactly as they are. This power is one 
of the characteristics of genius. He is a man of high 
ideals, in the possibility of whose realization he has 
boundless confidence and hope. He has faith in God 
and trust in man. Hence his courage is undaunted. 
Having formed the habit of seeing things as they are, 
he is wise in his recognition and selections of means 
and skillful in adapting and using them for the highest 
ends. He is continually learning by experience. Some 
of us are so afraid of making mistakes that we never 



PRESENT NEEDS IN EDUCATION 19 

dare to try an experiment. But experience is the best 
teacher. 

All these powers, moral, intellectual, and physical, 
are highly developed and well balanced in our strong 
man. He is symmetrical. There is neither too much 
nor too little of many qualities. Such men are rare. 
Some power usually falls short of complete develop- 
ment, and its lack mars or ruins the whole. This is the 
man's weak spot, which always hampers him, and which 
sooner or later gives way and causes his collapse. Such 
large, well-grown, completely developed, symmetrical, 
strong men and women are precisely the ones needed as 
leaders to help us to meet our emergencies and to grasp 
our boundless and countless opportunities. Even if our 
system of education can fully realize this ideal in only 
a few instances, it must realize it as far as possible in all. 
Only thus can it discharge its duty of fitting the rising 
generation to beat the record made by our ancestors. 
Anything less means stagnation or degeneration. 

Our problem, therefore, is how to develop men and 
women having all these essential elements of power 
well developed and well balanced in one individual. 
It is not an easy one. We must make full and wise 
use of every means at our disposal. 

Our present material progress and success are due 
largely to the fact that we have learned to form a part- 
nership with Nature and her forces. Rivers turn our 
wheels, coal drives our engines and locomotives, elec- 
tricity runs our errands and pulls our cars. A few 
gallons of oil or gasoline do the work of hundreds of 
men or horses without weariness. Have we ever care- 
fully considered the possibility of making Nature our 
partner in the work of education ? She will do a large 



20 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

part of the work for us if we will allow her. She will 
surely thwart us if we run counter to her laws. If we are 
to gain her aid and support we must discover and respect 
her laws of structure, growth, development, and life. 

In our zeal for learning we have often forgotten that 
the scholar must first of all be a man. We have seen 
that a strong and efficient man is something more than 
a mere stuffed or even well-trained intellect. He is by 
no means a disembodied spirit. He is an exceedingly 
complex being of many organs. 

We are dealing with children. The student of psych- 
ology lays out for us a system of training based on 
the working of the adult mind. It contains much of 
great value. But does the child's mind work like the 
adult's? Or must he act and think as a child? A very 
wise and learned committee lays out for our schools 
a curriculum which does not assign a single period in 
the week to physical training, nor mention any such 
branch. They seem to have regarded the child as a 
disembodied spirit, or in great haste to become one. 

We do not ask the baby to solve problems in mathe- 
matics or philosophy. We expect and desire in him 
only the dawn of mind. We ask and pray that he 
will eat well, breathe weU, sleep well, wriggle and cry 
more or less, keep healthy, and grow. This is his whole 
duty. Bodily growth is his business. For how many 
years is growth the chief business of the child ? Is it his 
chief business throughout the primary and intermediate 
grades ? If so, what and how much is the school doing 
to promote growth during these years ? 

Perhaps bodily growth is no business of the school, 
but of the home alone. Our strong man must have well- 
grown organs. Childhood is their period for growth. 



PRESENT NEEDS IN EDUCATION 21 

Growth seems to be the business of the child both at 
home and at school. Certainly the school can and some- 
times does hamper growth. It can promote it. If it 
can do so it certainly should. This is Nature's clear 
decision. If we will not accept her verdict, we may as 
weU give up hope of her cooperation in the work of 
education at the very outset. 

In the grammar grade is learning and mental disci- 
pline of chief importance to the girl, or is care of the 
body and physical exercise absolutely essential at this 
period? No one seems to know, and very few care. 
What would Nature say? If we disobey her laws, it 
will cost us a heavy penalty. "The plowing of the 
wicked is sin ; " not because plowing is not excellent, 
but because it is allowed to crowd out a far more im- 
portant duty. Are some of our educational experiments 
and efforts sin ? 

Every one of these questions is of vital importance. 
To how many of them can we give an intelligent an- 
swer ? A man who knows little or nothing of hydraulics 
will not succeed very well in harnessing the river to his 
looms. Only the expert in electricity can plan or build 
a djrnamo. If we cannot answer intelligently the sim- 
plest and most fundamental questions as to the laws of 
growth and development, how can we hope to frame a 
system of education which wiU produce strong men and 
women ? If we disregard or disobey the laws, wiU not 
Nature thwart us in the one case just as surely and 
completely as in the other? Only as we know what a 
man is, and what a child is and is doing at every stage 
of his growth and development, can we hope to plan a 
system of education which will win the cooperation of 
Nature in our work. 



22 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

Even our hasty and superficial analysis of tlie maT 
of power has shown us that he is a very complex beingo 
We need to know far more of him. The easiest and 
most feasible method of study is to attempt to trace his 
development as a species during his whole past history. 

But some one will say : " Why go so far afield ? 
What can the theory of evolution teach us concern- 
ing the education of children ? " 

If man is the result of a long process of evolution, 
some of his organs must be very old and some very 
young. The same will probably prove true of different 
parts of the same system. Some of our muscles are 
very old and some very young. The same is true of 
different parts of the brain. The oldest parts must 
be those which are essential to life, otherwise Nature 
would not have begun with them. The oldest are fun- 
damental and basal; the others rest on these like a 
palace on its heavy and rough foundations. We must 
lay our foundations deep and strong. If organs arise 
successively, there ought to be a very close relation and 
interdependence between some of them. If at a certain 
stage one system has drawn or lifted all the other sys- 
tems, that system was evidently the strategic point or key 
to the whole process of evolution at that stage. These 
facts are of great importance, if they have any bearing 
on the growth of the individual child. 

They bear directly and vitally on the growth of the 
child. It is a law of evolution that the development of 
the individual is a brief recapitulation of the develop- 
ment of the species. The development of the species, 
phylogenesis, occupied ages ; that of the individual, on- 
togenesis, is very brief. The recapitulation must be 
crude and incomplete, for Nature has made a short cut 



PRESENT NEEDS IN EDUCATION 23 

wherever she could in the development of the individ- 
ual. The study of the evolution of the human species 
will give us a glimpse of the order of succession in 
which different systems or parts of systems mature suf- 
ficiently to respond to the stimuli of our training and 
exercise. It can show us what is fundamental, and 
what organ at each stage gives us the key to the whole 
process of development. 

A large part of the history of the race is recapitu- 
lated before birth. We need to know a little about 
embryology. Here Nature has her own way to a large 
extent, and we may study certain laws of growth and 
development better than at any later time. 

We are beginning to see the character and scope of 
our problem and of the method of its solution. First 
of all we must know what man is, for manhood is the 
far-off goal of all our pupils' development. Then we 
must discover just how a baby grows into manhood, 
and just what Nature would have us do for him at 
every age and stage. She has her own plan and system 
of education, and will not change it to suit our schemes 
and whims. When we have discovered her plan, we 
may well consider whether it is good and best, or 
whether it may be shghtly modified and improved. We 
may not desire to try to improve it. Nature is no such 
blunderer as some of us seem to think. 

When we have discovered the characteristics of 
every stage of childhood, we can attempt to frame a 
system of education suited at each stage to gain the 
cooperation of Nature, and thus to train men and wo- 
men of growth and balance, of health, vigor, power, 
and efficiency. These are qualities to which Nature is 
always ready to bend all her efforts. 



24 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

In the remaining chapters our question will be 
chiefly how we can insure the sound body and vigorous 
health. This is the foundation without which the 
higher qualities of mind and heart develop precariously 
or feebly, or fail to realize their possibilities. The 
basis of education is and must be physical. 



CHAPTEK II 

MAN IN THE LIGHT OF EVOLUTION 

We must be very brief in our review of man's evo- 
lution, and can glance at only those stages which are 
suited to throw light on his physical structure and de- 
velopment. 

Animal life is reduced to its lowest terms in the 
Protozoa, in which all the vital functions are performed 
by one or a few cells. These cells represent the units 
of which all our tissues are composed. Far above the 
Protozoa stand the Ccelenterata, illustrated by hydras, 
sea-anemones, and jelly-fishes. The older naturalists 
called all these forms Zoophytes, plant-animals. They 
represent a second stage or plane of life. In the sim- 
plest forms the body is a sack, whose cavity is the seat 
of digestion. Nervous and muscular tissues are very 
poorly developed. The animal has no special organs of 
respiration, excretion, or circulation. Everywhere in 
this stage we find two systems, and only two, suffi- 
ciently developed to be fairly effective ; these are the 
digestive and the reproductive. They are absolutely 
essential to life. Digestion furnishes the material for 
growth and repair, and for fuel. After these needs 
have been supplied, the balance is devoted to reproduc- 
tion. The reproductive system provides for the survival 
of the species. 

Worms, of which our common earthworm is one of 
the higher forms, represent a third plane of life. Lower 



26 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

worms greatly increased the amount of muscular tissue, 
and attained the general plan of structure of the trunk 
of all higher forms of life. The muscles forming the 
outer wall of the body were used for locomotion. 

The introduction of muscular locomotion and of a 
large amount of muscular tissue required and occa- 
sioned many changes in the body. Muscular tissue is 
like a steam engine in one respect. It gains the energy 
for its work by burning material brought to it by the 
blood. A furnace requires not only fuel, but an open- 
ing by which oxygen may enter and a pipe for the 
escape of the smoke and gases. Similarly the develop- 
ment of muscular locomotion stimulated the improve- 
ment of the digestive system to furnish its fuel. Special 
respiratory organs appeared to furnish the oxygen. 
Excretory tubules, the forerunners of our kidneys, 
developed to remove the nitrogenous waste. A system 
of blood-vessels soon followed to insure a constant and 
rapid distribution of food and oxygen, and to carry 
away from the cells the products of combustion and 
other waste material. 

We must never forget that the development of the 
muscular system carried with it, or dragged after it, 
the development of our most important viscera : kid- 
neys, lungs, heart, and blood-vessels, and, as we shall 
see later, of the brain itself. A good digestive system 
is essential to existence; a tough muscular system is 
essential to health. But a muscle contracts only in 
response to an impulse coming along a motor nerve- 
fibril from a central nerve-cell. Every added muscular 
fibre absolutely required a corresponding addition to 
the nervous system, which accordingly steadily in- 
creased in size and complexity. In any segmented 



MAN IN THE LIGHT OF EVOLUTION 27 

worm, like tlie earthworm, whicli is composed of a 
long series of rings, or similar portions of the body, 
there is a ganglion or group of nerve-cells in every 
segment. 

But the moving animal is continually coming into 
new situations, finding new conditions, sometimes favor- 
able, sometimes dangerous. It must " sense " the situ- 
ation, and act accordingly. Hence we find special 
sensory organs developing at the front end of the 
body for sight, smell, and taste. Delicate organs of 
feeling, later to be used for hearing, also appear. The 
highest worms possess all the organs of special sense 
which we have, but often in a very crude form. 

The presence and work of these highest sense-organs 
powerfully stimulated the foremost ganglion, or nerve- 
centre. It had to do the work of a brain. The eye 
starts as an organ capable of distinguishing between 
light and darkness. When it had become eidoscopic, 
capable of forming images of external objects, the 
brain developed with great rapidity. 

The more swiftly moving worm soon developed 
weapons of offense ; teeth, etc. Two zoophytes may 
compete with each other. But the strongest jelly-fishes 
could hardly fight, if they would. The zoophytic era 
was one of comparative peace. But worms can harm 
one another. They or their immediate descendants 
began the battle which stiU rages. This again makes 
life vastly more complex. The animal must recognize 
its enemies. If it were correct to speak of motives 
among these lowest forms, we might say that new 
motives wiH soon appear. The zoophyte could feel but 
one emotion, hunger. The lowest vertebrate fears and 
becomes angry. At least, he acts as if he had these 



28 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

feelings. The introduction of muscular locomotion 
raised life to a new plane far above that of the zo- 
ophyte. There is nothing vegetative about life now. 
We might, perhaps, call this third stage the animal 
plane. 

But the worm, after all his attainments, had hardly 
begun to utilize the powers and possibilities of the mus- 
cular system. As soon as the body wall had attained 
a fair degree of development, a skeleton appeared. 
MoUusks developed an external protective shell, which 
impeded locomotion, and usually precluded higher de- 
velopment. The clam, safely ensconced in the mud, 
beyond the reach of discomfort and danger, is the 
logical goal of this experiment. Arthropoda, including 
crabs, spiders, etc., developed an external, mostly loco- 
motive, skeleton, and finally culminated in insects. 

But some swimming worm began to develop an in- 
ternal locomotive skeleton, and finally the vertebrate 
attained a rod of cartilage, the notochord, which gave 
place to the vertebral column or backbone. This skele- 
ton opened up new and great possibilities. Larger 
masses of muscles could be used in the trunk. Fins 
appeared in fish. The amphibians, now represented by 
frogs and salamanders, changed the fins into legs, be^ 
came air-breathing, and emerged on land. Life in the 
air increased the amount of oxygen, and diminished 
the loss of heat. This increased the efficiency of every 
organ, notably that of the nervous system. 

The legs of the more primitive amphibians, e. ^., the 
salamander, are weak, and cannot raise the body from 
the ground. But in reptiles, e. g.^ lizards, and in mam- 
mals, they lengthen and strengthen. The animal no 
longer crawls or creeps, but runs. Finally the arboreal 



MAN IN THE LIGHT OF EVOLUTION 29 

forms, lemurs and apes, developed tlie hand. Each new 
part gradually attained a freedom and range of move- 
ment of which the older and lower parts were incapable. 

The human muscular system may almost be called 
stratified. Different parts are of very different age. 
Our trunk-muscles originated in worms; those of shoul- 
der and thigh in fish; those of arm and leg in amphibia; 
the hand as such was developed by arboreal mammals. 
The central portions are older, the peripheral younger.^ 
The old, central systems of muscles are heavy, stout, 
simple, incapable of very precise or fine movement. 
The new systems in the hand are complex, light, capable 
of a great variety of very precise movements. In any 
complex action, e. g., picking up a pin from the floor, 
we begin as a rule with old central muscles, we finish 
with peripheral. The former may be called funda- 
mental; the latter, accessory. 

It would be interesting to notice how the increased 
use of the muscles and the larger demands for fuel 
left a continually decreasing balance for reproduction. 
Fewer and fewer young could be produced. Each one 
became of greater and greater value and importance. 
This was apparently the occasion of the change from 
oviparous to intra-uterine development. This and the 
long period of infancy led finally to family life, as Pro- 
fessor Fiske has shown in his " Destiny of Man." But 
this lies apart from our subject. 

We must return to the development of the nervous 
system. Its use is evidently to insure that every sen- 
sory stimulus should result in a muscular or motor re- 
sponse suited to the emergency.^ Life is really a series 

1 Mercier, The Nervous System and the Mind, p. 374. 

2 James, Psychology, Briefer Course, p. 91. 



30 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

o£ responses to stimuli. The day's work is nothing 
else. 

Evidently the development of the nervous system has 
had its occasion and stimulus in that of the muscles and 
the sense-organs. The brain of a fish or reptile is surely 
not an organ of logical thought, nor has it been devel- 
oped by logical thinking. It is mainly an organ for the 
control of locomotion. We find the occasion of the 
brain's complexity in the steadily increasing range and 
complexity of movement. 

Motion in the earthworm is a comparatively simple 
matter. The animal lengthens and shortens, or writhes. 
Each segment contributes its part to the movement of the 
body under the control of its own centre or ganglion. 
The animal has neither eyes nor ears. The brain can 
stop or originate movement, or increase or decrease it. 
Here a very simple system suffices. 

A shark is swimming through the water. The body 
is driven by sweeps of the tail drawn alternately right 
and left by contraction of the corresponding muscles. 
This movement is controlled immediately by centres in 
the rear part of the spinal marrow. But the animal is 
steered upward or downward by the fins. These must 
be held in the proper position, and this position may 
be changed suddenly or frequently. The whole body 
may have to be bent, the head raised or lowered. Let 
us suppose for the sake of simplicity that all of these 
changes result from impulses received from parts of the 
spinal marrow. Still these different movements must 
all be coordinated in time and degree. This demands a 
higher centre above all the lower ones. The cerebellum 
or small brain arises in response to this need or work. 
Walking demands the exact coordination of many 



MAN IN THE LIGHT OF EVOLUTION 31 

muscles. Hence the cerebellum of man is very Mghly 
developed. 

The shark hastens forward because it has seen its 
prey, or smelled it, or heard it fall into the water. The 
sense-organs have developed through greater use in con- 
nection with swifter locomotion. The nerves of the eyes 
originate or end in the top of the mid-brain. This por- 
tion of the brain owes its development to the sense of 
sight. The nerves of smell end farther forward at the 
base of the cerebral lobes ; the nerves of hearing far- 
ther back in the medulla. We will suppose that the 



COURSE OF NERVOUS IMPULSES IN MOVING SHARK 

Enters at II if Visual and goes to Roof of B. Returns to Basal Ganglia at X. (Or 
it may reach X from / or VIII.) Goes from ^ to Cerebellum C. Impulses from 
C control Centres in Spinal Cord. 

sight of the prey has attracted the shark. Impulses 
from the mid-brain must in some way reach and stimu- 
late the cerebellum to coordinate the actions of the 
muscles to a movement in the right direction. The 
cerebellum is not in supreme command, so to speak, 
but must receive orders from a higher centre farther 
forward. The impulse may reach the cerebellum directly 
from the mid-brain, but far more probably through gang- 
lia lying in the basal or lower portion of the cerebrum. 
We here catch a glimpse of the hierarchy of centres 
in the nervous system, subordinated to one another like 



32 



GROWTH AND EDUCATION 



the offio/tTH of companieB, rcgirncritH, Virl^^axks, etc., in a 
great army. Tha importance of this will becxjme clear 
a little litter. 










IJIIAIN OF TUIiTLK 

Sbowin^i; InfirtiOtiih f>t Vartn in TligFif^r \ttrtA)hr&t/(tH by lUittcA JAru-M. Mtidulla and MicU 
F/raln incnsawj Jlttl«; (jC,To\mMnui iuKrc/Amn wjucfi, and Cerebrum far xuoti. 

When the earlier amphibia and reptilcH, with whort 
and weak legs, crawled or walked upon the ^'ound,the 

pro}>lem of locomotion waH greatly 
charj^fjd. The body luid U> be Hup- 
portcd by jointed legH. These had 
more niuHcleH than the fins, and 
cxirrespondingly greater freedom 
of movement. This occasioned a 
higher development of the whole 
seri(;s of motor nervfMjentres. In 
these crawling animals the sense of 
smell b(icame of grciat importance, 
and developed rapidly through 
greater nse. A ccording to Edinger, 
it stimulated in reptiles the dev(}l- 
opment of a new portion of the 
}>rain, which was to gain pr(;ced(ince 
of and (control over all the rest. 
This is the cerebral cortex. 

liJlAIN OF TURTLE 

(From above.) ^ James, Pnychofogy, Jiriefer Course, p. 105. 




MAN IN THE LIGHT OF EVOLUTION 



33 



The upper portion or roof of the cerebrum is com- 
posed in fish of a thin membrane containing no nerve- 
cells. But in reptiles such cells have appeared and have 
arranged themselves in several layers. 
The cortex appears at first to have 
been a seat of smell alone. But as 
the animal gained length of limb and 
swifter locomotion, especially as its 
dangers multiplied, sight and hearing 
were more and more used, and these 
powers and their centres improved 
rapidly. We find that in mammals 
every one of the higher senses reports 
finally to some portion of this same 
cortex : the eyes to the rear portion, 
the occipital lobe ; the ears to small 
lateral portions low down on the tem- 
poral lobes. A better mode and higher 
stage of sense-perception is thus in- 
troduced. A lower mammal may very 
probably see with the mid-brain, but 
it perceives and recognizes with the (From above Diagram.) 
cortex. 

We also find in the cortex the 
centres of ultimate control of all the 
voluntary movements of the muscles 
of the body. It has evidently become 

. *^„ 11 VIII = Auditory Norves. 

the seat oi supreme command and 
control over all the older sensory and motor centres 
in the brain. The motor area occupies the parietal por- 
tion of the cortex, being nearly midway between its 
front and hind ends. In this area every great group 
of muscles, of face, trunk, arm, leg, etc., and their 




BRAIN OF FISH 



Jf =: Capacity-Lobeo. 

A ■= Cerebrum. 
Ji = Mid-brain. 

C = Cerebellum. 

D = Medulla. 

E =: Spinal Marrow. 

/ = Olfactory Norvoa. 
JI = Optic Nerves. 



34 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

divisions, seems to have its own special portion. Good 
physiologists maintain that this area represents a pro- 
jection map of the movements of all parts of the body. 
It stands to these in a relation comparable to that exist- 
ing between the keyboard of a piano and the strings 
which produce the different notes. It has received the 
name of Meynert's area of projection. 

Whether every group of muscles or movements has 
an area as sharply circumscribed as this would signify 
is stiU doubted by some or many. The area is probably 
not exclusively motor. It seems to stand in close, 
though very possibly indirect, connection with sensory 
fibres of the general sense of feeling for the whole sur- 
face of the body. We have much to learn. But it is 
apparently safe to conclude that this part of the parie- 
tal lobe of the cortex is the seat of control of voluntary 
movements, and that these are controlled from special 
areas, which may or may not be as distinct and local- 
ized as we have thought. 

Our knowledge of the brain has been greatly in- 
creased by the study of diseases or injuries affecting 
limited portions of it. We may say in general that 
injuries affecting sensory centres or fibres result in 
insensibility of a corresponding part of the body, and 
that injuries to motor centres or fibres result in motor 
paralysis of certain muscles. 

But there are areas of the cortex where localized 
injuries produce neither local insensibility nor local 
paralysis. Stimuli applied to these regions produce 
neither movement nor any sign of sensation. These por- 
tions have been called by some the silent areas of the 
cortex. There are two of them. One is the frontal lobe 
forming the anterior portion of the cortex ; the other 



MAN IN THE LIGHT OF EVOLUTION 



35 



lies just behind tlie parietal motor area, Meynert's pro- 
jection area ; between it and the visual occipital area. 



£02 



CttUBBm 




CnuBnMBfi 



Sntau UtsRow 



HUMAN BRAIN — LEFT ASPECT — DIAGRAM 



JP. Frontal Lobe. 

P. Parietal Lobe. 

Oc. Occipital Lobe. 
As. A. I. Anterior Association Area. 
M. P. A. Meynert's Projection Area. 
As. A. II. Posterior Association Area. 



V. A. Visual Area. 
Avd. A. Auditory Area. 

F2. Inferior Frontal Fissure. 
R. Rolando's Fissure. 
S. Sylvian Fissure. 



Position of Centres of Movements in Monkey^ s Brain 

1. Movements of Trunk. 3. Movements of Foot and Toes. 

2. Movements of Thigh and Leg. 4. Movements of Arm. 

5. Movements of Face. 

These silent areas of the cortex are exciting much 
interest at present. They are very large in man, much 
smaller in the apes, smaller stiU in the carnivora, and 
scarcely recognizable in rodents. They are apparently 
the very youngest portions of the brain. We shall find 
that they mature very late in the development of the 
individual. Their main use seems to be to connect 
other areas or portions by means of their bundles of 
longer or shorter fibres. 



36 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

Flechsig^ has studied tiiese areas more carefully, 
perhaps, than ahnost any one else, and has called them 
areas of association. The hinder association area, espe- 
cially, is admirably situated to connect the centres of 
sight and hearing with the projection area. Flechsig 
thinks that this area is the seat of our most important 
intellectual processes. The frontal lobe or association 
area is in his view the seat of our moral perceptions. 
Whether so exact a localization of mental processes 
will prove true is still uncertain. That these two areas 
are seats of the higher mental processes seems almost sure. 

We have already noticed that the different centres of 
the brain are related to one another much as officers 
of different rank in an army.^ The muscles of legs and 
arms are controlled immediately and directly by centres 
in the spinal marrow. The actions of these centres are 
coordinated by the small brain. This, again, is con- 
trolled by centres in the cerebrum, whose headquarters 
are in the cortex. Similarly sensory impulses are re- 
ceived first by lower sensory centres, then transmitted, 
probably often somewhat modified, to result in clear 
perception when they reach the cortex. 

The use of the nervous system is to insure a suitable 
muscular response to sensory stimuli. To reach the 
muscles and accomplish this result, sensory stimuli 
must be " switched off " on to motor nerves. The whole 
system of centres thus forms a great and very complex 
switch-board. The impulses may leap from the sensory 
to the motor nerves in lower or in higher centres. I 
rise and cross the room to get a book. The voluntary 
impulse to move goes out from the cortex to the cere- 

^ Flechsig, Gehirn und Seele. 

2 Mercier, The Nervous System and the Mind, p. 133. 



MAN IN THE LIGHT OF EVOLUTION 37 

bellum, and this centre controls my walk across the 
room. The higher centre is relieved from many or aU 
details of the work, and my mind is free to think of 
something else at the time. In some or many reflex 
actions only the lowest centres in the spinal marrow 
are involved. I learn to walk, or ride a bicycle, or to 
write, with much effort and difficulty. The highest 
centres must give their attention to the work. Later I 
can make all the movements almost or quite without 
thought. The work once learned is carried on best by 
lower centres. It has been well said that the great aim 
of education is learning to do the right thing at the 
right time without having to think about it. 

The tendency of the lower centres is to respond to 
a stimulus by immediate muscular action. The mode 
of response is the result of our own habits or of those 
of our ancestors, and may be correct and suitable in 
a majority of cases. But we begin to suspect that some 
other response or reaction may meet the emergency 
better. We stop and think. One great use of the cere- 
brum is to restrain immediate response,^ to allow the 
motor impulse to go out along a new path and result 
in a new action. Thus we experiment. Or it may not 
be best to respond at once. We must often wait mo- 
ments, or perhaps years, until the time is ripe. Here 
is the great danger of the cortex. It may delay so as 
not to respond at all. So many outlets are open to so 
many muscles, resulting in so many different lines of 
action, that the impulse is dissipated. Many human 
brains are like sponges ; they absorb sensory stimuli 
indefinitely, they discharge motor impulses only under 
much pressure. 

^ Mercier, The Nervous System and the Mind, p. 145. 



38 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

Certain results of our crude and hasty sketch are so 
important that we must notice them even at the risk of 
some repetition. 

The human body is composed of many distinct systems 
and organs, all indissolubly united in one organism, 
where " every part is at once means and end to every 
other part." The health and life of the whole organism 
may be disturbed or destroyed by the weakness of any 
one of these numerous parts. What we often call the 
lower organs, the viscera, are absolutely essential to life, 
and hence by far the most important. They are funda- 
mental as well as essential. Anything which disturbs 
our digestion or the removal of waste equally disturbs 
the clearness and vigor of our thought. Every part 
must be of the highest possible efficiency. One great 
aim of education should be to " make the weakest part 
as strong as the rest." If there is to be no schism in 
the body, the organs must be properly balanced in 
weight and power. Otherwise the overgrown part robs 
some other organ of its fair share of nutriment, and 
throws upon it burdens which it cannot bear. If any 
part is, for any reason, to be exposed to excessive 
strain, that part must be fortified and strengthened 
during its period of growth in early life. But every 
other part should be correspondingly strengthened to 
back it up in its emergency. 

It is hardly possible that in so complex a being as 
man, all parts and organs should develop with equal 
rapidity at one and the same time. Evidently certain 
organs and powers which are apparently dormant in 
the infant are developing rapidly in childhood or youth. 
We should expect to find that there is a special time 
for the rapid development of each organ. We should 



MAN IN THE LIGHT OF EVOLUTION 39 

naturally expect that the more fundamental organs, like 
digestion, excretion, and respiration, will develop early 
to meet the needs of other growing parts, and that 
some will be held back to give time and opportunity 
for this important process. In other words, there is a 
time for everything, and we must find that time. 

We cannot fail to notice the immense amount of 
time devoted by Nature to the development of the mus- 
cular system. Why did she linger so long over it, 
before going on to the development of the brain, espe- 
cially of the cortex with its mental powers ? Evidently 
it must be of far greater importance, and have far 
larger latent capacities, than we have usually supposed. 
The muscular system is the strategic centre, so to 
speak, from and through which we can reach, exercise, 
and strengthen intestine, lungs, kidneys, and all the 
organs essential to life, but which are beyond the direct 
control of the will. Hence the sturdy vigor of our an- 
cestors, and the dangers of a sedentary life. 

But the muscular system is the key to the develop- 
ment of the brain, as well as of lower organs. Nervous 
development followed the increase of locomotion and 
increased use of the sense-organs, especially of the eyes. 
Arboreal life and the use of the hand were exceedingly 
important factors in the development of the cortex. If 
this be true of the development of the species, it is 
probably equally true of the individual. Physical exer- 
cise and manual training, nature-study and other forms 
of observation, may develop intellectual power and 
keenness in the end more effectively than reading and 
spelling. This view is supported by the fact that the 
association centres — apparently the seat of thought — 
link together the sensory and motor regions of the cor- 



40 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

tex. We can consider this question more fully wlien 
we study the growth and development of the brain in 
the individual. 

We have found that different portions of our mus- 
cular system have arisen at different ages, and that 
they grow younger as we go out from the trunk to the 
ends of the fingers and downward to the toes. The cen- 
tral and fundamental are older than the peripheral and 
accessory. 

But each group of muscles, of trunk, shoulder, upper 
or lower arm, or leg, has its own centres of control. 
The fundamental muscles of trunk, shoulder, and thigh 
are capable of few movements, and these neither com- 
plex nor precise. The muscles of the hand, and espe- 
cially of the fingers, are capable of a great variety of 
combination of movements. Hence it is to be expected — 
and this seems to be supported by the facts of anatomy 
— that the centres controlling the fundamental muscles 
would be comparatively simple, composed of relatively 
few cells with simple combinations. These cells must 
be large and strong, for they stimulate heavy masses 
of large fibres. Centres controlling the accessory mus- 
cles of hand and fingers must be composed of a very 
large number of cells. These must be able to combine 
in a great variety of ways, corresponding to the variety 
of hand and finger movements ; hence the centre is 
very complex. The cells stimulate small and fine mus- 
cles ; hence they will be correspondingly small and deli- 
cate. The fundamental centres, like their muscles, are 
older, tougher, and of greater endurance ; the younger 
centres of the accessory muscles are not only more deli- 
cate, but weaker and more easily exhausted. 

Therefore we are not surprised to find that the best 



MAN IN THE LIGHT OF EVOLUTION 41 

physiologists insist upon the fullest possible develop- 
ment of these fundamental centres. They are the seats 
of endurance which enable us to hold out against the 
strain of modern life, especially in the hurry and fret 
of our great cities. They must be strengthened at aU 
cost in the children of parents who show any signs or 
traces of nervous weakness, in all the children of the 
business and professional classes, and in those children 
who will later enter these lines of work. The high-strung 
American girl needs this preventive and developing 
treatment more than any other form or kind of educa- 
tion. No child can have too much of it, and in every 
case it is far better to have full enough than too 
little. 

In one word, if we would fortify the nervous sys- 
tem of the child so that it will not collapse in nervous 
prostration under the strain of modern life, we must 
encourage him to use the heavy muscles of trunk, 
legs, and shoulders. He must run, jump, throw ball, and 
tussle with his mates. We shall find reason to believe 
that the most profitable period for this exercise is when 
the child is in the kindergarten or lower school grades.* 
Charts I and n summarize some of the most impor- 
tant events of our study in this chapter. 

Chart I gives us the succession in the development 
of organs. Column A gives us a brief series of stages 
which wiU suggest approximately, though not exactly, 
those through which our ancestors in all probability 
passed. Column B shows the most important feature 
of their progress at each stage. Column C shows what 

1 Hartwell, Physical Training ; Report of Com. of Ed. U. S. 1903, 
i, 724 ; Report of Director of Physical Training, Boston, School Doc. 
no. 8, p. 40 ; Ross, Diseases of the N&rvous System. 



42 



GROWTH AND EDUCATION 



functions or organs were called into being or stimulated 
to a higher development by the leading function given 



ANIMAL DEVELOPMENT 



A 


6 


c 




STAGES. 


DEVELOPMENT OF 


BELATED FUNCTIONS 
OB OBGANS. 


ILLUSTBATIOH 


Protozoa 


Cell 




Amboea 


Zoophyte 
Worms 


Digestion. Reproduction 
Locomotion 


Respiration. Excretion 


Hydra 
Earthworms 






Circulation 


Annelids 


Fish 


Sense-Organs 
Pins and Eyes 


(Spinal Marrow) 

(Brain) 

Cerebellum. Mid-brain 


Sharks 


Reptiles 
Lower Mammals 


Legs and Smell 
" " Senses 


" Cortex 
" Meynert's Area 


Lizards 
Cat. Dog 


Arboreal " 


Hands " " 


Cortex, esp. Association 
Areas 


Apes 


Man 


Mental Powers 


Association Areas 





CHART I 



Thought etc. 



Relationship of Organs 

Muscles of 
Trunk 



Sense-Organs 

Mid-Brain 
Leers and Arms ^^Parts of Cerebrum 

•^ ^""-^ Meynerts Area 

Hands = Association Areas \ Cortex 

CHART II 





in B. The protozoa developed the single cell or grouped 
these cells in colonies with no tissues or true organs. 
During the zoophytic stage the digestive and reproduct- 



MAN IN THE LIGHT OF EVOLUTION 43 

ive organs were started. Worms introduced muscular 
locomotion. This step in advance was accompanied by 
the development of the respiratory, excretory, and circu- 
latory organs, represented in our bodies by lungs, kid- 
neys, and heart and blood-vessels. 

Swifter locomotion called forth the higher sense- 
organs, which reacted on the foremost ganglion of the 
body, and stimulated its development into a brain. At 
the same time the muscles were doing a similar work 
toward the development of a spinal marrow, though 
brain and spinal marrow do not actually appear until 
the time of vertebrates. The development of the ap- 
pendages called out the cerebellum ; and their higher 
use in mammals developed Meynert's projection area 
in the cortex, which had arisen in consequence of the 
greater use of the sense of smeU. The cortex develops 
steadily through mammals. The association areas be- 
come large in arboreal mammals, and culminate as the 
mental centres of man 

But the succession in origin of these different parts 
or systems is not as important to us as their mutual re- 
lationships. These, beginning with the appearance of 
muscles, are shown in Chart ii. The organs fall into 
small groups, whose members are very closely related 
to each other. A close physiological relationship is 
shown in the chart by a double line. Digestion and 
reproduction developed side by side, and are closely 
related in that the amount devoted to reproduction is 
determined to a large extent by the amount of nutri- 
ment furnished by the digestive organs. The develop- 
ment of the heavy fundamental muscles necessitated and 
stimulated the development of our vital organs : heart, 
lungs, and kidneys. These form a closely related group. 



44 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

Muscular exercise is still necessary for the development 
and maintenance of these organs in the individual man 
or child. They respond to muscular stimuli as they 
never do to those of the brain. An hour's brisk walk in 
the cool air arouses them all ; but an hour's hard men- 
tal work has very small effect upon them. 

Indirectly muscular locomotion favored the develop- 
ment of sense-organs. The cerebellum arose with the 
development of the appendages, and the mid-brain and 
certain areas of the cortex with the use of the higher 
senses. Here we have two partnerships developing side 
by side. The use of the legs and of the sense-organs is 
still essential to the development of these portions of 
the brain in every individual. We find it universally 
true that organs which arose at the same time, and 
either mutually dependent or one depending upon the 
other, always retain the original relation or depend- 
ence, at least for their healthy development in the 
individual. 

Have we any reason to believe that the association 
areas, the special if not sole seats of the mental powers, 
are any exception to this rule? Their origin was stim- 
ulated by the development of the arms, and more es- 
pecially the hands, with the sense-organs. Their fibres 
connect sensory and motor areas. Is not the exercise 
and development of sense-organs and hands essential 
to their early growth and development, as heart and 
lungs require the stimuli of muscular exercise for their 
healthy growth? Can we afford to neglect these original 
and essential stimuli, and depend solely or largely upon 
the far younger and later mental stimuli to promote 
the early and essential growth of the substance and 
tissues of these centres? 



MAN IN THE LIGHT OF EVOLUTION 45 

What we caU our brain has been builded by suc- 
cessive additions at very different periods of geological 
history. Medulla, cerebellum, mid-brain, and the basal 
ganglia of the cerebrum, are old. They may all date 
from early palaeozoic time. The cortex is far younger, 
and its portions are of different ages. The association 
areas very probably did not arise until well on in ter- 
tiary or cenozoic time. They are still far from their 
final and complete stage. 

Our brain is much like the fortress-palaces so common 
and striking in certain parts of France. Their founda- 
tions are old, heavy, and strong; capable of resisting 
anything except modern artillery. The successive addi- 
tions grow steadily lighter, more complex, more grace- 
ful, and better fitted for a higher civilization. 

So the old fundamental centres are the fortress- 
foundations of the brain, the seats of endurance and 
resistance. If they are neglected or incompletely de- 
veloped, the whole brain structure totters or collapses. 
They, far more than the higher centres, claim and 
require our attention throughout childhood. In late 
childhood or adolescence we can develop the finer 
powers. 

We see clearly that mental exercise of a logical sort 
has added only the finishing touches to the develop- 
ment of the brain. It originated as a switch-board 
between sensory stimuli and muscular movement. It 
is stiU a part of the great neuro-muscular system. 
Brain and muscle are never divorced in the action of 
healthy higher animals or of healthy men. They should 
not be divorced in the education of the child. God has 
joined them together; let not man by any artificial 
system put them asunder. 



46 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

The Intellect, especially tlie logical power, is the 
latest evolved function of the brain. Our system of 
education is in great danger of making it the spoiled 
child in the family of powers which make up the man. 
Emotion is older than thought; the heart than the 
head. If the individual recapitulates at all the devel- 
opment of the race, if the older powers are fundamen- 
tal and essential, we should expect that feeling or 
emotion must play a most important role in human 
life, and that its proper exercise should form a corre- 
spondingly important part in every true system of 
education. 

"We have seen in our study of human evolution that 
parts and organs were added successively to very small 
and simple beginnings. The first organs to take form 
were those which were absolutely essential to life. The 
digestive system is the foimdation of the whole body. 
Then masses of muscles appeared and were used for loco- 
motion. Their rise was attended or soon followed by the 
development of respiratory, excretory, and circulatory 
organs. But the muscular system is very complex, and 
its parts are of very different ages. The muscles of the 
trunk are exceedingly old. Those of shoulder and thigh, 
of arm and leg, followed successively. Hand and fingers 
took their present form last of all. It was primarily the 
use of the heavy fundamental muscles which stimulated 
the growth and development of the internal vital organs. 

Each addition to the muscular system was accom- 
panied by the addition of new centres in the brain. The 
younger centres are far more complex and delicate than 
the older. The development of the hand stimulated the 
development of the higher intellectual centres in the 
brain. 



MAN IN THE LIGHT OF EVOLUTION 47 

The muscular system has thus been the key and 
dominating centre for the development of all the organs 
of the body from distant ages until man came upon the 
stage and the reign of muscle gave place to that of 
mind. We must not forget also the influence of the 
sense-organs in stimulating brain development. 

The development of the child is crudely and imper- 
fectly parallel to the evolution of the human species. 
Hence the essential vital organs are the first to be- 
come efficient. Their growth and development is aided 
by the exercise of the heavy muscles of trunk, legs, 
and arms. The exercise of these muscles stimulates 
also the growth and development of the fundamental 
nervous centres in the brain. This fortifies the nervous 
system against all forms of nervous weakness and col- 
lapse. Nervous prostration must be prevented by phys- 
ical exercise in the kindergarten and lower grades. 
Here the foundations of power must be laid deep and 
strong. At this age strength is more important than 
grace or beauty. 

The child during its earlier years should be educated 
far more through the muscles and sense-organs than 
directly through the brain. Hand and eye are now 
more efficient means of intellectual development than 
thought or even memory. 

The young child is largely an animal. The higher 
mental powers which characterize man do not appear 
until about the period of puberty. Our chief aim should 
be to keep him a healthy animal, and to promote the 
growth of the fundamental organs and powers, which 
alone can form a firm and stable support for all later 
additions and improvements. 

If we wiU bear these facts in mind, and recognize 



48 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

them in planning our system of education, we can have 
the aid and cooperation of Nature at every step. The 
old system of education on the farm was very largely 
such a natural system. The child was educated mainly 
through his muscles and his sense-organs. Such a sys- 
tem may seem to us very crude and incomplete. But 
with the co'operation of Nature it became marvelously 
effective. We must regain the cooperation of Nature, 
if our present system is to be nearly as successful and 
beneficent. We must in some way gain a clearer insight 
into her laws of growth and development. We shall 
hope to gain some knowledge of these by our study of 
embryology. 



CHAPTER III 

HINTS FROM EMBRYOLOGY 

In this chapter we can notice but a very few of the 
most important facts of embryology, and these only in 
so far as they throw light on growth and education. 

If you look at an egg dropped on toast or poached, 
you will notice a lighter spot on the yolk, about as big 
as the end of a small lead-pencil, which looks as if 
some one had blistered it with a hot iron. It is a disk 
like a watch-crystal, composed of a multitude of cells. 
Development in a fresh egg has already gone far 
beyond the stage of the single cell, of which every egg 
consists at first. This is an embryo chicken, without 
a single organ, and with hardly a tissue except the two 
distinct layers of which it consists. 

Soon the embryo becomes elliptical or shield-shaped, 
and we find a rod running lengthwise through its 
middle line. This is the notochord, the beginning of 
the vertebrate skeleton. Just above and parallel to 
the notochord a tube appears, the beginning of brain 
and spinal marrow. We can gain a fair idea of the 
position of these two organs, if we thrust two hatpins 
through a griddle-cake parallel to its diameter and to 
each other. 

Then two series of segments or blocks appear, one 
on each side of the notochord. From these two rows of 
blocks the vertebrae and muscles will later arise. The 
sides of the disk are tucked under, and meet, and unite 



50 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

beneath to form the tubular vertebrate body. Then legs 
and wings appear, looking for a time like short stubby 
flippers, in which joints and fingers and toes will arise 
later. Slowly and gradually the eye is built, the brain 
shaped, the face moulded. For some time the head is 
shaped much like that of a lizard. Until far on in em- 
bryonic life it is difficult or impossible to tell whether 
we are looking at the embryo of a bird or of a reptile. 

How does the egg-cell ever find its way through this 
vast embryonic journey ? How did it ever learn to shape 
and frame a skeleton, to string the muscles, and to spin 
the marvelous cobweb of nerves running to every part 
of the body, and connecting it with exactly the right 
point in the brain ? It is a most marvelous fact that an 
egg hatches into a chicken. We know only that Nature 
under favorable conditions always brings a chicken, 
never anything else, out of a hen's egg ; and that the 
chicken is usually healthy. 

All this work is done within a shell. Nature seems to 
say : " Keep your clumsy fingers off. If you touch the 
thing, you 'U spoil it." And she is quite right. Here 
we cannot help her at aU. Our interference would be 
disastrous. 

But if we could watch the development of a chicken, 
we should be inclined to interfere more than once. At 
a certain stage of development slits appear looking like 
little buttonholes, and extending from the outer sur- 
face of the neck through to the pharynx or rear por- 
tion of the mouth. A single one of these will remain 
as our Eustachian tube. They evidently correspond to 
the gill-slits of a fish. Cartilaginous rods and branches 
of the aorta form between these. 

All these structures and the general form of heart 



HINTS FROM EMBRYOLOGY 51 

and brain, as also the arrangement of the great veins 
of the body, are at this stage almost exactly as in fish, 
not at all as in birds. We are inclined to think that 
Nature has lost her way completely. But she smooths 
over and closes the unnecessary gill-slits, remodels or 
removes the cartilaginous arches, reduces the number of 
branches of the aorta, and regains the line of develop- 
ment leading to the bird. The ease and careless aban- 
don with which she works in forming embryos is posi- 
tively refreshing. She seems to say : " Do not worry 
about a little thing like a few extra gill-slits and arte- 
ries. I can straighten that out easily enough. I have 
made millions of chickens, and they always come out 
right. Leave that to me." 

Later she seems to lose her way again, and builds a 
lizard's tail on the rear end of the chicken. No chicken 
ever had such a tail with so many vertebrae. She shoves 
some of them forward into the pelvis, moulds the hind- 
most together into a solid mass, and makes a chicken's 
tail. 

Nature usually attains her end, but she very fre- 
quently reaches it by a roundabout, and apparently 
aimless, course. She often seems to blunder. But we 
cannot stop her or guide her. She must have her own 
way, and she will probably come out right. We cannot 
help her much here. 

If we are wise, we would not interfere, if we could. 
For when the individual fowl starts its existence as a 
single cell, and proceeds to develop into a bird, its most 
natural if not its only possible course is to follow in 
general the same line along which its ancestors plodded 
in their upward progress through the ages of biological 
history. The bird must pass through stages very simi- 



62 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

lar, at least, to those of fish and reptile. Of earlier 
stages it may give but slight hints. It hurries as fast as 
it can, and avails itself of a short cut wherever this is 
possible. But some, especially of the later stages, per- 
sist with remarkable pertinacity and distinctness. 

Sometimes young are born with anything but the 
adult form and structure, and a metamorphosis follows 
birth. The butterfly is born a caterpillar, and the 
beetle, a grub. Remember President Hall's illustration 
drawn from the tadpole. The tadpole has a long tail 
like that of a fish. When it has gained legs, it absorbs 
the tail and comes out a frog. You may hasten Nature 
by cutting off the tadpole's tail. You thus make a frog 
in a hurry. But you spoil a good tadpole, and you do 
not get a normal frog. 

Provisional structures, gill-slits in birds, and tadpoles' 
tails are a sort of scaffolding by which the adult struc- 
ture is to be builded. More than this, the provisional 
structure is often essential to stimulate the surrounding 
tissue to produce organs of great permanent value. 

The embryonic notochord is going to disappear, but 
it seems necessary to stimulate the surrounding tissue to 
produce the backbone. Repress the one, and you will 
fail to gain the other. The gill-slits will disappear. But 
they may be necessary to stimulate the formation of 
branchial rods, out of which our jaws and hyoid bone 
are to develop. If the growth of the lower, temporary 
structure is hindered or prevented, the higher and per- 
manent organ suffers correspondingly. 

Where there is a metamorphosis, the ancestral and 
the provisional stages and structures are often even 
more distinct than in embryonic development. Nature's 
course is even more roundabout than before. But her 



HINTS FROM EMBRYOLOGY 53 

care for tlie young does not cease at birth. For a longer 
or shorter time after birth you must allow her to have 
her own way, and to follow her own course. 

What we have said of the embryonic development 
of the chick applies equally well to the human embryo. 
And the baby undergoes a metamorphosis just as really 
as does the tadpole. The child is no more a pocket 
edition of a man than a tadpole is a miniature frog. 
Nature must, and can, and will, finish the one as the 
other, in her own way. Here again unwise interference 
may work great and permanent harm. We rarely hesi- 
tate to trust Nature to finish tadpoles and chickens. 
We equally rarely allow her to have her own way with 
the child. 

The child is naturally successively animal, anthro- 
poid, half -barbarian, and then civilized. If, when Nature 
intends him to be an animal, we try to make a saint or 
a sage of him, we are acting about as wisely as when we 
try to make a frog by decaudating a tadpole. In both 
cases we work permanent harm with the very best 
intentions. If we regard the lower stage as useless or 
pernicious, if we try to repress or obliterate it, we are 
knocking out the rounds of the ladder up which, with 
Nature's assistance, the child is climbing to manhood. 
The barbarous stage is just as really a stimulus to the 
development of the strong adult as the notochord is the 
necessary stimulus to the formation of a backbone. In 
her own good time Nature wiU carry the child out of the 
lower stage, as she has brought him up to and into it. 

Whatever may be true at a later stage, it would seem 
to be a fair deduction from facts that in training the 
young child we can only furnish natural conditions, 
and that then we must trust the rest to Nature. We 



54 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

can furnish stimuli, but the stimuli must be suited to the 
capacities and to the stage of development of the child. 
Above all, during these earlier years we must follow 
Nature with care and docility. We must not try to 
coerce, or hamper, or hurry her. Otherwise harm will 
surely result. 

It is evident that such a being as man cannot be 
builded in a day. Provisional organs, structures, and 
habits must wax and wane. Systems must be fully de- 
veloped, correlated, and adjusted, so that the lower will 
support the higher. Similarly in our nervous system 
the fundamental portions must have time and oppor- 
tunity for growth and development. Incomplete devel- 
opment of the lower part means weakness or arrest of 
development in the higher. 

First a low and rude instinct appears, suited to the 
plane of life. This gives rise to a habit. The habit 
arouses a new instinct, and this in turn a new habit. The 
maturing of a new system requires a readjustment of old 
habits and methods of life. All these changes must 
follow one another in proper order and sequence, if we 
are to have a healthy mental development. We are just 
beginning to discover that many childish instincts, which 
have been despised as useless or degrading, are essen- 
tial to the attainment of a ripe, strong, adult manhood. ^ 

We must be patient. The fish-like or reptiHan stage 
of the chicken is not very promising ; we must not ex- 
pect a child in the tadpole stage to show the agility or 
precision of action of the adult. He is living in a dif- 
ferent medium, in a world and age of his own. Let 
him conform to it for the present. Whenever the Bible 
speaks of the childhood of its great heroes and leaders, 
^ James, Psychology, Briefer Course, p. 402. 



HINTS FROM EMBRYOLOGY 55 

it usually says merely : " Tlie child grew and waxed 
strong." 

We have seen that the human body is an exceed- 
ingly complex structure. Many organs must originate, 
grow, develop, and be coordinated and adjusted in one 
body. We often forget or underestimate the import- 
ance of growth. If any organ is undersized it is a 
source of weakness in the body. This is evident of 
heart and lungs, but equally true of all organs. Bone 
and muscle must grow well in the child before they can 
be developed and hardened by the boy and girl. Fail- 
ure to attain complete growth is as bad as arrest of 
development, or even worse. If in any way we could 
increase the growth of all our organs ten per cent, we 
should attain extraordinary power. A slight increase 
of strength of muscle or brain often or usually means 
great superiority in efficiency. Hence any knowledge 
of the laws of growth is of the greatest importance to 
the student of education. 

Growth is evidently a slow process and demands 
time. The complexity of the human body is the expla- 
nation of the great length of childhood. Nature always 
hurries the development of the individual as much as 
she safely can. She takes a short cut wherever this is 
possible. It is neither wise nor safe to attempt to hurry 
her still more, and to crowd into childhood actions and 
processes which properly belong to youth. Something 
fundamental and essential will surely be crowded out. 

Many organs must find time for growth. All do not 
mature at the same time. All are not growing with 
equal rapidity at the same time. The internal vital 
organs grow rapidly during embryonic life and infancy, 
and are relatively large and mature during childhood. 



56 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

The muscles mature in the order of their origin ; the 
fundamental first, the accessory later. Their periods 
of acceleration of growth are successive. Some parts of 
the brain grow and mature early, others later. Growth 
is usually successive and by parts. Nature accelerates 
the growth first of one organ or part and then of 
another. We cannot overestimate the importance of 
this fact. We cannot change the order of succession in 
growth. 

An even more important fact is that we can do 
much to promote growth or to hamper it. Every organ 
passes through three stages in the course of its develop- 
ment. The first is a stage of pure growth. The organ 
or part is enlarging as rapidly as possible by the multi- 
plication or growth of its cells. These contain large 
amounts of water. The substance of the tissue is still 
in the process of formation, or is being shaped and 
moulded. AU the energy which the cells can possibly 
produce is needed for these formative processes. The 
tissue is so immature that it cannot perform the func- 
tion which it will later discharge. At this stage exer- 
cise is unnecessary and injurious. The organ should 
be left to Nature. Growth is its whole business. 

In the second stage growth is still of prime import- 
ance. But now exercise is essential, for without it 
growth declines or ceases. The exercise must be suited 
in kind, amount, and degree to the condition of the 
organ. We do not yet ask, How much can the organ 
do or bear without positive and evident injury ? but. 
What and how much exercise will best promote healthy 
growth ? The child runs and climbs trees. His muscles 
are doing a great deal of work. But we should never 
admit that this is an argument for child-labor. We 



HINTS FROM EMBRYOLOGY 57 

know that that would surely dwarf and stunt him. 
The kind of exercise is as important as the amount. 

In the third stage the organ is approaching maturity. 
It is receiving its finishing touches. Soon further change 
will be impossible. Now is the time for more severe 
training. The power of endurance of strain can gradu- 
ally be increased. Much productive work may rightly 
be expected and required. 

Evidently most of the organs of the infant and young 
child are attaining the second stage of development. But 
much of the muscular system and a still larger part of 
the brain are in the first. During childhood the differ- 
ent muscles and the sensory and motor centres of the 
brain successively pass through the second stage. But 
the highest centres of the brain have hardly emerged 
from the stage of pure growth. 

How are we to know when an organ is ready for and 
requires exercise ? We have seen that the brain is a whole 
hierarchy of centres, some maturing early, others very 
late. The same is true to a certain extent of the mus- 
cular system. Moreover, the change from one stage to 
another is gradual or imperceptible. 

Here again Nature will give us clear and trustworthy 
suggestions, if we will only seek and heed them. When a 
child cries from hunger, it evidently needs food. When 
it has eaten enough of plain, simple food, the craving is 
stilled, and the hunger ceases. The appetite or craving 
is a clear and unmistakable symptom of the bodily con- 
dition and needs. 

So with the cravings of the muscular system. We 
notice the restlessness of young children, and that they 
tire quickly. Their fundamental muscles require large 
amounts of exercise, but in small doses frequently 



58 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

repeated through the day. This craving is entirely 
reasonable and beneficent. We do not heed it as we 
should. 

Similarly the sensory, motor, and mental centres in 
the brain crave exercise successively. These cravings 
of the higher centres appear in the form of the child's 
interests. Hence his succession of interests is just as 
really based on physiological conditions and laws as 
hunger or craving for muscular exercise. 

We sometimes think that it makes little or no differ- 
ence what a child is doing as long as he is kept busy. 
This is surely wrong. He ought at this age to be doing 
what Nature bids him do, what he does naturally. In 
other words, — pardon the repetition, — we must follow 
Nature's suggestions, and suit our exercises, whether 
physical or mental, to the cravings or interests of the 
child. 

Perhaps the child is hungry to run, and we deem it 
better for him to sit still and try to think. We are 
attempting to exercise a centre in the brain which is in 
a stage of pure growth. The exercise does little or no 
good, it may do some or considerable harm. At the 
same time we are depriving the muscles of exercise 
which is absolutely essential to them. We neglect or 
fail to exercise the sensory and motor centres in the 
brain, and wonder that the development of the higher 
centres is not more complete and harmonious. We for- 
get that the finer muscles and the higher nervous centres 
require for their own development the highest possible 
efficiency and exercise of the fundamental parts. 

Hence precocity is to be feared and avoided, espe- 
cially in children of business and professional men, and 
in our cities. It means that some essential stage of 



HINTS FROM EMBRYOLOGY 59 

growth or development is being neglected or overleaped. 
It can result only in a defective or ill-balanced body or 
mind. 

As the child grows into youth, Nature looses one 
after another of the leading-strings by which she has 
held him in a narrow path or groove. Slowly and 
gradually she gives him the opportunity and trains him 
to judge and choose for himself. He cannot follow all 
the careers or grasp all the opportunities of life. He 
must select that which fits his own powers or aptitudes. 
He must not specialize so early as to narrow his mental 
development. But individual differences and prefer- 
ences will become more and more marked. Now we 
can and should begin to tempt and draw him to share 
our very best interests and enthusiasms. We are no 
longer limited by his cravings or interests. We must 
train and prepare him for the independence which he 
will soon declare. If we follow Nature in childhood, she 
will bid the youth foUow us. 

We have found that development takes place accord- 
ing to an orderly sequence. The great systems do not 
arise in the embryo in the same order as in racial 
development. Notochord and brain, very young raci- 
ally, arise first in the embryo. But when a system has 
once started, it repeats in general outline, imperfectly 
and with many short cuts or limitations, the racial de- 
velopment of the same organ. Even in the brain, the 
old, fundamental portions grow and mature before the 
younger and accessory. In the different systems and 
organs the individual recapitulates briefly and imper- 
fectly the development of the race. 

We have seen that growth is anything but uniform 
in different parts of the body at any one time. Every 



60 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

year of immature life is cliaracterized by the rapid 
growth of some organs. Every organ has its time 
when suitable exercise is needed to promote or main- 
tain further growth. Without this exercise, growth 
stagnates or halts, and development is incomplete or 
defective. Clouston seems to be entirely correct in his 
view that an incompletely developed organ is very 
likely to become a seat of disease during adult life, if 
not before. It must always be a weak spot in the or- 
ganism. Hence we should grudge neither time nor 
effort to insure the full growth of the body, especially 
of the vital organs, whose growth is stimulated mainly 
by the exercise of the heavy muscles. We often forget 
or despise them, yet power, efficiency, and even life 
depend upon their healthy and vigorous action. 

Our chief problem and business is to discover what 
organ craves and therefore needs exercise during each 
year of immature life, and then to satisfy these natural 
and healthy cravings by exercise suited to the child's 
needs. We have seen that refusal to satisfy the crav- 
ings of the restless child for physical exercise and bid- 
ding him sit still too long over his book rob the mus- 
cles of needed exercise and the vital organs of the 
necessary stimuli, with little or no profit to the brain. 
It also results in a deep-seated aversion to books and 
study. 

A child's interests are evidently symptoms of a crav- 
ing for needed exercise by some centre in the brain, 
just as much as restlessness is a symptom of need of 
movement. It follows that until the interest is mani- 
fest, that part of the brain is not sufficiently mature to 
profit by the exercise. To prescribe such exercise at 
this time hampers growth instead of promoting it. A 



HINTS FROM EMBRYOLOGY 61 

study whicli demands the use and exercise of brain cen- 
tres which are not sufficiently mature to manifest an 
interest or to profit by it necessarily becomes an object 
of aversion. 

We may teach the child to read before any interest in 
books or reading has been aroused. He learns to hate 
books. We hurry him into arithmetic before he is ma- 
ture enough to have any interest in it. He learns to 
dislike arithmetic. If we will commence every study 
one year before the child is mature enough to become 
interested in it, we can arouse in him a permanent aver- 
sion to every study in the course. A similar child be- 
ginning the same studies a year or two older may find 
every one of them interesting and profitable. Of course 
much depends upon the method of presentation of the 
study and the mode of approach to it. We have made 
no account of the fact that the more mature child, with 
no more perseverance or application, and with far less 
expenditure of energy, will learn and accomplish two or 
three times as much in one half of the time. 

The forcing process, the crowding back of high school 
studies into the grammar grades, and grammar studies 
into intermediate or primary grades, is a very dangerous 
experiment. It is liable to have a similar result to that 
of Dr. Blimber's training of young Toots, who, " when 
he had whiskers, left off having brains." 

Home education would be much more successful, if 
parents had more trust in God and Nature, and less fear 
of neighbors and friends. The child must always wear 
nice clothes and appear well. Young children must be 
little gentlemen and ladies as soon as they can toddle. 
This is exactly what Nature would not have. Childish 
instincts and habits appear to us rude and unconven- 



62 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

tional, and they probably are so. We suppress them at 
once. It is not necessary or best that the child should 
always have his own way. But he should always have 
a child's and not an adult's ways. It is not best to un- 
necessarily thwart and hamper him. We worry about 
the child, and then worry and fret him into irritability 
and distrust of us and himself. We would fain oblit- 
erate or prevent all " tadpole " stages in development. 
A healthy, natural growth is impossible under such con- 
ditions. Thwarting and hampering a child at every 
turn is like cutting off every embryonic growth or organ 
which does not immediately assume the perfect form. 
Would it not be better sometimes to give the child the 
benefit of the doubt, to leave him to himself now and 
then, and see what he would do under such strange con- 
ditions ? Is it not wise to watch and consider an instinct 
before we hasten to suppress it, not to find fault with 
good in the making, or unconventional behavior, entirely 
natural at a certain stage, which will surely change or 
pass away with greater maturity? Nature, which watched 
over the making of the child, may be trusted to lead 
him by her own devious and roundabout paths to a good 
and sturdy manhood. She has had far more experience 
than we. 



CHAPTER IV 

GROWTH IN WEIGHT AND HEIGHT 

The object of education is fullness of life, health, vigor, 
joy, and efficiency. This demands the largest growth 
and fullest development of all parts of the body, and 
their coordination in one symmetrical, well-balanced 
organism. This growth and development must include 
all our powers ; physical, mental, moral, and religious. 
Of all these physical health is fundamental. 

Nature tends to produce normal and healthy men and 
women. Ill health or weakness is usually the result of 
abnormal, artificial habits and conditions of life, either 
of ourselves or of our ancestors. The human body is 
an exceedingly complex structure. A multitude of 
organs or parts must have time and opportunity for 
growth. Every part has its own time for acceleration 
of growth. Care, attention, and proper exercise will at 
this time produce far greater and better results than 
before or afterward. 

During infancy and childhood, at least, we must let 
Nature have her own way, and heed her suggestions. 
" First the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the 
ear " is the law of a safe and sure development. Intel- 
lectual growth will come in its own time, and in fuller 
tide, because the necessary preparation has been made. 
The first need of the child is a well-grown body with 
healthy organs. Our first study therefore must be that 
of increase in weight, height, and chest-girth. For these 
are the best criteria of health and vigor. 



64 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

The average weight of the male college student is be- 
tween one hundred and thirty-five and one hundred and 
forty pounds. ^ Englishmen of the most favored class have 
about the same weight. ^ We wish to trace the rhythms 
of growth by which this weight is attained. Prenatal 
growth is marvelously rapid. Between the ages of three 
and four months the embryo increases in weight more 
than fivefold. During the first six months after birth 
the baby doubles its weight. During the first year the 
gain is almost one hundred and seventy-five per cent. 
From the third to the fifth year it is about fifteen per 
cent. In the sixth year it has fallen to about ten per cent. 
It remains near this mark with minor fluctuations for 
several years,^ 

In the eleventh year, more rarely in the tenth or 
twelfth, of the boy's life, growth in weight has declined 
to a minimum. In the thirteenth year, more rarely in 
the twelfth, a marked acceleration begins, and lasts about 
four years. In Northern Europe the period of accelera- 
tion begins and closes about a year later. The American 
boy is somewhat precocious. 

Growth in weight of females. The average weight 
of the students at our Eastern colleges for women is 
about one hundred and twenty pounds.'* The average 
for Western colleges seems to be somewhat less. Eng- 
lish and Swedish women of the same age seem to be 
from two to four pounds heavier. 

Growth in weight during the first six or seven years 
of the girl's life is practically the same as in the boy, 

1 Hitchcock and Phillips, Physical Growth of Students during Course 
at Amherst College. 

2 Roberts, Manual of Anthropometry, p. 78. 

3 Holt, Diseases of Infancy, p. 20. 

* Hitchcock, Comparative Anthropometry. 



GROWTH IN WEIGHT AND HEIGHT 65 

though she is usually a little lighter. Growth usually 
falls to a minimum at ten. Her period of acceleration 
covers the twelfth to the fourteenth years. The decline 
in the fifteenth year is sometimes abrupt, sometimes 
gradual. In most cases growth is slight in the seven- 
teenth year, and has practically ceased in the eighteenth. 
The gain after the eighteenth year seems to be greater 
in Europe than in America. The girl is more preco- 
cious than the boy by one or two years. Hence from the 
twelfth to the fourteenth year she usually weighs more 
than he. Her period of accelerated growth is shorter. 

Growth in height. The average height of the male 
student is about 68 inches.^ Growth in height is very 
rapid during infancy and early childhood, and falls to 
a minimum at eleven or twelve. Acceleration begins 
at thirteen or fourteen, and lasts about four years. The 
average height of the college woman is about 63.5 
inches.^ The girl has a fairly steady and somewhat 
rapid increase in height up to about the fourteenth 
year. Her year of minimum growth is at ten or eleven, 
but the decline is not very great. 

The normal chest-girth of the Eastern college student 
is about 35 inches.^ But this varies considerably in dif- 
ferent localities. Increase is very rapid during the first 
year,^ declines until the fifth, rises in the sixth, is irreg- 
ular until the acceleration at fourteen or fifteen. We 
have few measurements of chest-girth of girls. They 
seem to have a marked increase at eleven or twelve. 

Growth in all dimensions is evidently very rapid 
during infancy and early childhood. There is frequently 

^ Hitchcock, Comparative Anthropometry. ^ Ibid. 

8 Hitchcock and Phillips, Physical Growth of Students, 
* Holt, Diseases of Infancy, p. 20. 



66 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

a retardation at about seven or eight, and a minimum 
at ten or eleven. Then comes the acceleration accom- 
panying the pubertal changes. Height and weight, 
except during a part of the pubertal period, are rarely 
markedly accelerated at the same time. The same is true 
of annual growth. Fall is the time of rapid increase 
in weight, and spring and early summer of increase in 
height. Growth during winter is usually slow.^ 

But health and vigor do not depend upon great bulk 
or stature. The tallest and heaviest are often lacking in 
endurance. It is of far greater importance that the 
body be well proportioned. If height, weight, and chest- 
girth increase unequally, the proportions of the body 
must be different at different ages ; and this difference 
will almost certainly affect the vigor of the child. Lean 
and full years, periods of strong and of weak resistance 
to disease, will alternate. 

Up to the age of about fifteen the legs are growing 
much more rapidly than the trunk. During the first 
triennium the percentile annual increase of the trunk 
is two thirds of that of the legs ; during the second a 
little more than one half; between six and nine less 
than one fourth ; between twelve and fifteen less than 
one haH. After fifteen the upper half of the body gains 
twenty-five per cent, the lower hardly one half as much. 

In the adult male the sitting height is about fifty- 
three per cent of the standing height, but varies con- 
siderably. At birth sitting height is probably two thirds 
to three fourths of the length of the body ; at five it is 
about fifty-six per cent ; at fourteen or fifteen the ratio 
has fallen to about fifty-one per cent; at sixteen it 
begins to rise again. The legs seem to gain relatively 
1 Malling-Hansen, Perioden in Gewicht der Kinder, 



GROWTH IN WEIGHT AND HEIGHT 67 

rapidly at tlie periods of retardation of growth at eight 
and eleven, while at fourteen and fifteen the relative 
gain of the trunk is much improved. 

The proportions of the girl undergo similar varia- 
tions. Her trunk is usually somewhat larger relatively. 
The gain of the legs begins and ceases earlier. 

Chest girth is at birth nearly two thirds of the height.* 
At nine it is almost exactly one half. The ratio dimin- 
ishes until the thirteenth or fourteenth year in the boy. 
After this it rises continually, and at twenty should ex- 
ceed one half the height. The ratio of depth to breadth 
of chest is very large at birth. During the first year 
depth very nearly equals breadth. In the girl of five 
the ratio has fallen to about seventy per cent; at four- 
teen it is sixty -three per cent ; at twenty about sixty- 
eight per cent, or the same ratio as at the age of nine. 
The flatness or hollowness of the chest of the boy and 
girl at ten or eleven and its depth in the baby are ap- 
parent to every one. 

The boy at twelve or thirteen, and the girl a year or 
two earlier, are farthest from the proportions of the 
infant. Adolescent and adult tend to return to the pro- 
portions of childhood. This is very clear in the relative 
length of trunk and legs, in girth of chest, and even 
more in its form and roundness. Even the old vege- 
tative systems seem to gain a new revival of growth at 
adolescence. 

Let us summarize the most important of our results. 

Infancy and early childhood are periods of rapid 

increase in both height and weight. Growth declines 

steadily and sinks to a minimum at ten or eleven, with 

usually a less marked retardation at about eight. In* 

^ Holt, Diseases of Infancy, 



68 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

crease of heiglit until about tliirteen or fourteen is due 
more to the lengthening of the legs; after fourteen or 
fifteen the trunk gains more rapidly. Increase in girth is 
much less rapid than in length until about fourteen. In 
the study of the child in the grammar grade we shall find 
that the short and small trunk with the relatively long 
legs is a source of weakness at this time. The vital 
organs in the trunk have not kept pace with the legs 
in their rate of growth. Hence we find in our study 
of morbidity that there is a steady rise in the amount of 
sickness throughout the period. 

It has been a subject of much discussion whether 
rapid growth is a symptom of increased or decreased 
endurance and resistance. The effect of growth on the 
physical vigor of the child depends upon its form and 
direction. Increased girth is always a sign of increased 
power. Increase of vigor and decrease of sickness is 
marked at fourteen and sixteen in the boy, and these 
years are marked by a rapid increase in girth. In- 
creased length of trunk means more space for the vital 
organs, and hence increased health and vigor. Increased 
heiglit must of course be accompanied by increase of 
weight. But if this increase is due mainly to additions 
to the length of the legs, it results in a heavy drain on 
the internal organs for material for growth and fuel, 
and for removal of waste. Hence between nine and 
fourteen, when the child seems to be largely legs with 
small and short trunk, especial care should be taken to 
provide abundant nourishing food and plenty of exercise 
in the open air, and a certain amount of leniency is 
necessary. 



CHAPTER V 

GROWTH OF THE NEURO-MUSCULAR SYSTEM 

Plants and the lowest animals remain permanently on 
what we have called the zoophytic plane of life. The 
truly animal plane is characterized by the development 
and use of the nervous and muscular systems. These 
have been termed animal in distinction from the vege- 
tative organs of digestion, excretion, etc. They have 
been called the master tissues of the body. They are 
the means by which we react and conform to environ- 
ment, grasping its opportunities and meeting its emer- 
gencies. 

The relation between the muscular and nervous sys- 
tems is exceedingly close. The two have developed to- 
gether and hand in hand. Every change or current in 
the nervous system expresses itself through some change 
in the muscles; and every movement of our muscles 
reacts upon our nerve-centres. The two really form one 
great system, and it is only for the sake of convenience 
that we consider them separately. 

In the average adult male the muscles form somewhat 
more than one third of the weight of the body.* In the 
new-born child they form about one fourth of the weight. 
Between birth and maturity they increase about thirty- 
seven fold. Until the fourth year of life the viscera are 
outgrowing the muscles, which apparently do not begin 
to increase very fast until the sixth or seventh year. 

1 Vierordt, Daten und TaheMen, p. 29. 



70 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

From this time until tlie age of sixteen or seventeen 
their relative increase is very rapid. During the first 
half of this period growth in length is more prominent ; 
during the last half, growth in girth. After seventeen 
growth in weight usually slackens, but the muscles still 
increase in girth, toughen and harden, and gain greatly 
in strength and endurance. 

At birth the muscles of the trunk are most advanced, 
those of the arms are in advance of those of the legs, 
but the latter grow more rapidly during childhood. As 
to increase of muscular girth we are still much in the 
dark. The following results seem to be tolerably trust- 
worthy. The girth of the upper leg increases more 
rapidly during the first four years ; after this the calf 
gains more rapidly. The same rule applies to the upper 
and lower arm. But the heavy muscles of upper leg and 
arm seem to have a second epoch of accelerated growth 
about the sixteenth year. 

The movements of early childhood are mostly those 
of the whole member ; and are produced mainly by the 
muscles of shoulder and thigh as well as of upper arm 
and leg. The arm grows less rapidly than the leg up to 
about the eighth or ninth year ; afterwards the reverse is 
true. The running period is followed by one of greater 
use of the arms. The accelerations in increase of girth 
of arm and leg occur at fourteen and sixteen in the 
boy. But at ten the increase is more rapid than we 
usually suspect. There are apparently several alterna- 
tions of rapid growth and comparative rest. 

Strength of squeeze, or of grip of hand, increases 
markedly at six or seven, the gain decreases toward 
ten or eleven. The acceleration which we should expect 
at fourteen comes at different ages in different local- 



GROWTH OF THE NEURO-MUSCULAR SYSTEM 71 

ities, probably according to the habits and conditions 
of life. 

A muscular fibre of the same area of cross-section 
seems to have almost forty per cent more strength at 
ten than at eight, and to gain nearly the same amount 
between eleven and sixteen. Bryan's and Gilbert's * 
experiments on voluntary motor ability tested by rapid- 
ity of tapping on a telegraph key, showed a great 
gain at eight, usually preceded in Bryan's experiments 
by a similar though smaller gain at six. Gilbert tested 
fatigue also. The effect of fatigue usually decreases 
steadily from year to year, as the child's strength and 
endurance increase. But at eight the child fatigues 
more quickly than at seven. This rapid increase of 
efficiency, accompanied by quickness of fatigue, seems 
to point clearly to additions of new materials or other 
changes in the motor nerve-centres at this age. 

The development of the muscular system of the girl 
is similar to that of the boy, but more precocious. In 
strength of squeeze her gain at seven and eight is very 
large. At or about ten there is a retardation. Accel- 
eration begins at twelve or eleven, and continues about 
three years. Fatigue and efficiency both increase at 
eight, as in boys. 

Growth of the Brain, According to Vierordt the 
brain forms 12.29 per cent of the weight of the body 
at birth ; in the adult, 2.15 per cent. It is outgrown 
by other organs. Its absolute weight at birth is a little 
more than one fourth of its adult weight. It doubles 
its weight during the first eight or nine months, and 
trebles it by the end of the third year. At the end of 

* Bryan, "Development of Motor Activity," American Journal of 
Psychology^ v, 125. 



72 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

the seventh year its weight is not very much less than 
at maturity. From this time on great increase in effi- 
ciency will be attained with but slight increase of weight. 
At birth the cerebellum has attained a considerably 
smaller part of its adult weight than the cerebrum, and 
during the last nine months of the first year its percent- 
ile gain is more than two and one half times as great. 
Between fourteen and twenty also its growth is rapid.^ 

Maturity, or more probably great increase of effi- 
ciency, is marked by the appearance of the medullary 
sheath surrounding the nerve-fibres in the centres. The 
first fibres in the cerebro-spinal system to become me- 
dullated are those connecting neighboring centres in 
the spinal cord.^ These control the simplest reflex 
actions. Then follows the meduUation of fibres con- 
necting higher and lower centres in the cord. These 
are concerned in more complex reflexes. The medul- 
lation extends upward into the cerebellum, assuring 
simple coordinations. These changes are practically 
completed before birth. 

At birth there is little meduUation in the cerebrum. 
Here the sensory centres mature earliest ; first, those 
of smell, then of sight, last of all, those of hearing. 
The centres in the cortex which preside over voluntary 
motion seem to mature later. The child is at first sen- 
sory and receptive ; later an active, motor, purposing, 
and voluntary being. 

Professor Donaldson has compared the mature por- 
tions of the child's brain to islands physiologically sepa- 
rated from one another. But the straits separating these 
physiological islands must be bridged or underlaid 

^ Vierordt, Daten und Tabellen, pp. 19-24. 

^ Burk, " From Fundamental to Accessory," Ped. Sem. vi, 10. 



GROWTH OF THE NEURO-MUSCULAR SYSTEM 73 

with cables before any real thinking can be done. The 
highest part of this work is probably performed by 
the association fibres of the cortex, whose centres seem 
to be seats of thought. These fibres are the last to be- 
come medullated. Many of them do not mature until 
adult life, some even after thirty. Hence the logical 
and other intellectual powers of the child are weak. It 
is during adolescence that the youth begins to appre- 
ciate and delight in argument. 

Everywhere in the nervous system we find steadily 
increasing complexity. First come the simplest reflexes, 
then the more complex. The sensory centres mature 
separately, then the motor; then these become con- 
nected with one another. Thus the best and most effi- 
cient brain is not necessarily the largest and heaviest, 
but the one in which the largest possible number of 
the very best connections has been made in infancy and 
childhood. 

During its period of growth and of early development 
every organ is plastic and easily modified. Then these 
modifications set and become permanent. The brain 
forms no exception to this rule. There is a time when 
it is easy to learn to dance or to acquire manual dex- 
terity. If we delay too long we acquire these accom- 
plishments with difficulty, if at all. " It is hard to teach 
an old dog new tricks." 

In exercising the nervous system to promote growth, 
or to train it to certain accomplishments, the exercise 
and training must be suited in kind and amount to the 
character of the centre and to its stage of development. 
Complex actions and processes cannot be expected from 
simple systems stiU lacking in coordination. The sen- 
sory centres must be trained early if at aU. To neglect 



74 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

the developing motor centres in an attempt to exercise 
or train the still nascent association centres of intellect- 
ual power and work is poor economy ; and must result 
in waste if not in injury. 

Nowhere do we find a clearer illustration of growth by 
parts in a regular and orderly succession than in our 
study of the nervous system. Nowhere do we see more 
clearly that the development of the higher centre or 
power depends upon suitable growth and development 
of the lower. The association fibres, with whose growth 
and development our higher intellectual powers seem to 
be coordinated, connect sensory and motor areas. Hence 
their development must depend upon the growth and 
development of the sensory and motor cells which they 
connect, and by whose exercise their growth is appar- 
ently stimulated. 

We have already seen that the order of development 
of centres in the brain is, in general, first the sensory 
and then the motor. But if we accept this too literally 
and strictly, we shall fall into error. Infancy and early 
childhood are predominantly sensory, yet the baby 
learns to walk, and the young child runs. And sensory 
development persists into youth unless hampered or 
crowded out by an unwise system of education. It 
would be more correct to say that sensory and motor 
development react mutually. First come the simplest 
sensations and simplest movements, perhaps mere re- 
flexes. The increased power of motion gives wider 
scope and better opportunity for new sensations, and 
these stimulate new motor activity. Every experience 
whets the appetite for new experiments, and these in- 
crease our stores of experience and knowledge. 

This interdependence of powers and centres in the 



GROWTH OF THE NEURO-MUSCULAR SYSTEM 75 

brain is probably not limited to its sensory and motor 
aspects. The highest centres react strongly upon our 
motor powers. We all notice the marked increase in 
the strength and efficiency of our muscles when we are 
stimulated by the hope of approval. The charging regi- 
ment hurls itself into the enemy's intrenchment with 
and by a cheer. Similarly the motor powers react upon 
the highest intellectual powers of the cortex. 

This leads us to expect that the cortex will have not 
one period of accelerated growth, but several or many. 
Some fibres certainly become meduUated far earlier than 
others. As to the growth and maturing of the associa- 
tion centres, we are still much or altogether in the dark. 
We may hope to gain some light upon this point by 
a study of the succession of interests of the child.* 

We have seen that in every system a period of pure 
growth with little or no actual efficiency is followed by 
one when growth depends upon the stimulus of active 
exercise. So, when the muscles and nerve centres of the 
leg have reached a certain stage of development, 
the child begins to walk and then to rxm. This craving 
for exercise is a wise and beneficent instinct. Without 
it growth stagnates, and development is defective. 

Similarly, the centres of the brain grow, and after 
a time crave exercise successively. We usually apply 
the word interests to the cravings of the higher centres, 
but these interests are as truly sjnnptoms of the attain- 
ment of a certain stage of development and of real 
needs as the craving of the legs for exercise or the 
hunger of the body for food. The interests of the child 
may therefore furnish us a very valuable glimpse of 
the order of growth and development of the nervous 
^ King, Psychology of Child Development, chaps, xi-adv. 



76 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

centres and their powers. At the same time we must 
bear in mind that interests, like habits and instincts, 
are always modified more or less by surrounding con- 
ditions. We can expect that our deductions will be 
valid only in general, and that they can show us only 
what we may usually expect. Here again we must be 
prepared for great individual and local variation. 

The first desire or interest of the child is to become 
acquainted with the objects which surround him. This 
characterizes the sensory period of life, lasting from 
early infancy to the sixth, or perhaps the eighth year. 
The young child wishes to handle everjrthing. His eyes 
and ears are wide open. His usual question is : What 
is it ? There is much in a name to him. But he is not 
merely enumerating and cataloguing objects and qual- 
ities. He is reacting to them, using them to satisfy his 
desires, to give him pleasure, and thus to awaken new 
desires. He discovers early what can be used most 
easily and effectively to make a loud noise or furnish 
some other gratification. We like to give things to a 
baby to see what he will do with them. He is really 
experimenting with himself and the world, which is 
wonderfully fresh and fascinating to him. He stores 
his mind with vivid and permanent impressions. 

The original sensations and impressions are always 
strong ; hence copies of these wiU frequently be repro- 
duced by the mind, sometimes in strange combinations. 
In other words the child is very imaginative. It is said 
that a child under six years old believes everything which 
is told him. The impression is the great thing. Whether 
its occasion is real and objective or subjective and im- 
aginary, he neither knows nor cares. All things are stiU 
possible to him. 



GROWTH OF THE NEURO-MUSCULAR SYSTEM 77 

The mind of the young child is apparently a picture- 
gallery of experiences, observations, and products of the 
imagination. The repetition, renewal, or recollection of 
these affords him keen enjoyment. The old story must 
always be repeated in exactly the same words to suit 
these mental images. 

His nervous system is simple and normal. Sensory 
impulses find their way very directly to the muscles. 
The inhibitory influence of the cortical centres is still 
very slight or absent. But only the connections on the 
" lower levels " ^ are as yet thoroughly established. He 
must rely mainly on his heavy fundamental muscles. 
Early childhood is by no means a purely sensory epoch, 
but the motor powers lag behind the sensory. He can- 
not actually realize more than a small part of his mental 
images. Here again he uses his imagination to piece 
out his accomplishments. His toys are frequently hardly 
more than symbols. The chair becomes a horse, a car, 
or a boat ; placed across a corner of the room it forms 
a house, a cave, or a wide field. Thus he plays himself 
into a knowledge of the world and of life. 

The second period, lasting, according to Clouston,^ 
from seven to thirteen, is one of coordination of motion 
and emotion. The sense-organs are still improving and 
craving exercise. But this is chiefly a motor epoch, 
when the child's greatest interest is in plays calling 
forth the use of the muscles of the legs and arms. The 
great importance of these plays can better be considered 
in a later chapter. 

Our most important and difficult question is : When 
do the so-called higher mental powers begin to be suf- 

^ Burk, "Fundamental to Accessory," Fed. Sem. vi, 15. 
2 Cloiiston, Neuroses of Development, p. 12. 



78 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

ficiently mature to crave exercise and thus make it 
profitable ? The powers of logical inference certainly 
do not become prominent much before adolescence, and 
abstract reasoning is weak almost or quite until adult 
life. We notice the impulsiveness of the child. The 
sight of a running object tempts him to chase it almost 
as irresistibly as it would a kitten. We know that he 
will chase it. This immediateness and certainty of re- 
sponse characterizes control by lower centres. Other 
controlling influences are imitation and direct sugges- 
tion. Indirect suggestion is more potent with adults. 
These influences are very strong before puberty, and 
they are not characteristic of any marked rise in power 
of reasoning. 

We should expect that one of the first signs of spon- 
taneous intelligent comparison and thought about ob- 
jects would appear in the arrangement of his collections. 
Mrs. C. F. Burk^ finds little spontaneous classification 
by children. Quantity is of vastly greater importance. 
They merely keep and increase their collections until 
the age of nine, " when there is a small proportion of 
miscellaneous arrangements and of classifications accord- 
ing to color and size, with some few instances of a 
classification according to kind. But these classifica- 
tions and arrangements appear mainly after eleven 
years of age." Taylor ^ found that few children of 
seven or eight jT'ears give any reasons for their hopes 
and ambitions, and that at nine the only reason given 
by many was : " I like it." Monroe ^ finds that few 

1 Burk, " Collecting Instinct," Fed. Sem. vii, 204. 

2 Taylor, " Children's Hopes," Report of N. Y. State Superintendent 
of Public Instruction, 1896, ii, 987. 

3 Monroe, " Play Interests of Children," Trans, of III. Soc. for Child- 
Study, iy, 5. 



GROWTH OF THE NEURO-MUSCULAR SYSTEM 79 

children of seven or eight give any reasons for their 
selection of favorite games, while after thirteen most 
of them give reasons for their choice. Says Monroe : 
" This would hint that thirteen years is the age when 
children begin to critically examine their evidence, and 
when the reasoning power of the mind appears as a 
dominant factor in the mental life of the child." Barnes 
and Shaw find the power to classify weak before twelve 
years. Hancock,^ in a very interesting article on chil- 
dren's errors in arithmetic, concludes that their power 
to compare numbers does not develop to any great ex- 
tent until twelve or thirteen. Mrs. Barnes,^ in a study 
of the Historic Sense of children, found that at ten or 
twelve the number of inferences increased, and that the 
power of " legitimate inference " rose sharply at twelve. 
Burk also concludes that the higher mental powers be- 
gin to mature at puberty. 

These views are supported by a large amount of evi- 
dence of great variety. If we accept them, it is evident 
that we often expect mental powers in the child other 
and higher than he really possesses. The child learns 
language mostly by imitation of parents and teachers, 
very little, if at all, by any understanding of rules of 
grammar. He imitates and acquires methods. He 
thinks, but he thinks as a child; largely in terms of 
movement and concrete action, not of rules or laws. 

Hence courses of study, methods, and textbooks 
based upon systems of adult psychology are very likely 
to prove disappointing, when applied to the child. In- 
deed, the more closely they approach adult standards 
and ideals, the farther they are from the child's under- 

1 Hancock, " Mental Differences," N. E. A., 1897, p. 852. 

2 Barnes, Studies in Education. 



80 GKOWTH AND EDUCATION 

standing and needs. The application of tlie results of 
child-study is so new that it must be more or less of an 
experiment. But it is an experiment of much hope and 
promise. The application of the results of purely adult 
psychology to the case of the child is almost surely 
doomed to failure. Such an experiment can have but 
one, and that an unsatisfactory, result. 



CHAPTER VI 

GKOWTH OF THE VISCEEAL OEGANS * 

The, Digestive System. According to Miililmann the 
weight of the whole intestine in the male forms at birth 
6.7 per cent of the total weight ; from four to six, about 
5 per cent ; from fourteen to twenty-four, about 3.3 per 
cent. Relatively to the length of the body it is longest 
in infancy and early childhood. Beneke ^ tells us that it 
has from one hundred to one hundred and eighty cubic 
centimeters capacity for each kilogram of weight in the 
child, while in the adult the ratio is only about one half 
as favorable. During childhood it has to furnish mate- 
rial for growth as well as fuel for the fundamental 
muscles. 

The Liver, In this organ most important changes of 
material, both constructive and destructive, are continu- 
ally taking place. It is a sort of clearing-house for the 
business of the body. Hence its relative size is an im- 
portant symptom of the amount of metabolism taking 
place at each period. It is relatively very large in in- 
fancy, and probably continues so during the first four 
years of life. It loses in relative weight at five, eight, 
and sixteen. This diminished relative weight may be 
due either to slow growth of the liver, or to the rapid 
growth of other organs. The loss at sixteen is almost 
certainly due largely to the latter cause, the loss at eight 

^ Hall, Adolescence; Virordt, Daten und Tahellen; Miihlmann, 
Unsache des Alters. 
^ Vierordt, Daten und Tahellen, p. 81. 



82 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

more probably to the former. But our figures after 
infancy are few, and their value is doubtful. 

The relative weight in the girl follows a somewhat 
different course. It is larger at birth than in the boy, 
does not diminish so rapidly during childhood, and re- 
mains higher in the adult. The differences between the 
sexes are too marked to be explained readily by the few- 
ness of our observations. They are probably associated 
with the greater constructive, anabolic power and tend- 
ency of the female, as set forth by Geddes and Thomp- 
son.^ The kidneys, which remove the nitrogenous waste 
of the body follow a very similar line of growth to that of 
the liver. 

The Circulatory System. The heart at birth is rela- 
tively heavy. It doubles its weight during the first two 
years, doubles this at eight, and doubles this once more 
during the next six years. The relative weight of the 
heart, as compared with the weight of the body, is great 
at birth, sinks during the first year, rises at four, is low 
at eight, and rises again at about fourteen. 

The volume of the heart doubles during the first two 
years. It somewhat more than doubles during the next 
five years. During the next seven years, between the 
ages of seven and fourteen, its increase is still slower, 
adding about two thirds of its volume at seven. During 
puberty the heart enlarges as much as during the pre- 
ceding seven years. If puberty is attained quickly, as 
is frequently the case with the girl, the whole amount 
may be added during three or even two years. Hence 
during adolescence the heart is large but weak in both 
sexes. 

The arteries are relatively large in childhood, small- 

} Evolution of Sex, London, 1894. 



GROWTH OF THE VISCERAL ORGANS 83 

est at puberty, after forty enlarge slowly, and in old 
age have nearly the same relative size calibre as in 
childhood. As the capacity of the heart increases at 
puberty much more rapidly than the calibre of the ar- 
teries, the blood-pressure rises rapidly at this epoch, 
while it is low in childhood and old age. The greatest 
activity of the organism coincides in time with the high- 
est blood-pressure. 

Both heart and arteries differ markedly in size in 
individuals of practically the same size and weight. 
Beneke found that children at birth may have hearts 
of hardly more than one half of the normal capacity. 
This condition may well be responsible for death from 
general weakness or from diseases of the respiratory 
system. Such children may survive with delicate consti- 
tutions. Or the weak and small heart may be strength- 
ened and enlarged by proper exercise. 

Beneke found also that death from typhoid fever was 
more frequent when the arteries were small and thus 
threw an excessive strain on the heart. Evidently dif- 
ference in the size of the heart and arteries must affect 
greatly the whole life of different individuals, and of 
the same individual at different ages. 

Growth of the lungs. The pulmonary or vital ca- 
pacity of the average male college student seems to be 
between two hundred and thirty and two hundred and 
fifty cubic inches or about four liters.^ Growth is very 
variable during childhood and youth according to con- 
ditions and habits of life. Increase is usually rapid in 
the boy between the ages of six and ten, but slackens 
during the next three years. There is nearly always 
a marked acceleration of growth at fourteen and again 

^ Hitchcock and Phillips, Physical Growth of Students, 



84 GKOWTH AND EDUCATION 

at sixteen. In the college woman tlie lung capacity is 
about two thirds of that of the college man.^ There is 
usually little increase after sixteen. There is little dif- 
ference between the sexes until the ninth or tenth year. 
In the boy the capacity doubles between ten and six- 
teen, in the girl the increase is far less, and usually 
irregular. The college woman has only about three 
fourths as much vital capacity for each pound of weight 
as the man. This may, or may not, be due to her con- 
structive, anabolic physiological tendencies. Between 
five and ten the girl has nine tenths of the relative vital 
capacity of the boy. Between eleven and fourteen she 
usually falls behind rapidly. This is the period when 
she most needs a large supply of oxygen in the blood. 

During puberty, and probably before also, bright 
pupils have a constant and often marked superiority in 
this respect.^ The importance of well-oxygenated blood 
for vigor and efficiency of the brain, as well as for gen- 
eral health, cannot be overestimated. Physical training 
has its good effects on the vital capacity of the boy as 
well as of the girl. The results are less marked in his 
case, because the boy usually manages to get a certain 
amount of outdoor play or other daily exercise which is 
frequently denied to the girl. It is doubtful whether 
even the boy has as large a vital capacity as he needs 
during puberty. Here the averages are probably some- 
what or considerably below a true normal standard. 

3fetaholism in child and adult. We have seen that 
the human body may be compared to a steam engine. 
Coal is burned in the fire-box of the locomotive, oxygen 

^ Hitchcock, Comparative Anthropometry. 

2 Gilbert, " Mental and Physical Development of School Children," 
Studies from Yale Psy. Laboratory, u, 40. 



GROWTH OF THE VISCERAL ORGANS 85 

is admitted or driven through the draft, and the waste 
products of combustion escape through the flues. The 
result of the combustion is heat, a part of which io 
utilized to furnish power. Similarly the income of 
our bodies is represented by our food and the oxygen 
absorbed in the lungs. 

In the adult a large part of the food is consumed in 
the muscles, some in the repair of the tissues, and the 
balance is devoted to reproduction. More or less may 
be stored temporarily as fat. During childhood and 
early youth the balance is devoted to growth, the forma- 
tion of new cells or the enlargement or maturing of 
those already formed. 

Our question is : How does the income of the child 
compare with that of the adult, and how is it used or 
expended ? 

Professor Atwater ^ has told us that the boy of fifteen 
or sixteen requires ninety per cent of the food ration of 
the adult man engaged in moderate muscular work; the 
girl of the same age requires about eighty per cent. 
Boys at twelve and girls at thirteen or fourteen require 
seventy per cent. The child from six to nine requires 
about fifty per cent. The young child between two 
and ^YQ averages about forty per cent. We may well 
remember that the girl at thirteen or fourteen weighs 
more than the boy of the same age and is changing 
faster. Probably she ought to digest as much as the 
boy of fifteen. In fact, she usually eats less than the 
boy of twelve. Here the observation probably shows us 
what is, rather than what ought to be. 

We have already noticed the relatively large size of 
the intestine during infancy and early childhood. The 
^ Atwater, Annual Report, xv, 131, 



86 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

demands for food during these early years are far 
greater than most of us suspect. The young child re- 
quires about twice as much food for each pound of 
weight as the adult. The infant needs even more. The 
infant and young child expend most of their income in 
growth, which is now very rapid. Comparatively little 
material is used as fuel by the muscles, probably even 
less by the nervous system. 

As the baby and young child burn up less material 
for fuel, we should expect that they would require little 
oxygen and produce little waste. This is not the case. 
The infant seems to require fully one fourth as much 
oxygen as an adult weighing twenty times as much. 
Thus for each pound of weight it seems to require four 
or five times as much oxygen as the adult. Relatively 
to its weight it produces two or three times as much 
waste also, carbonic acid and urea. The boy of five or 
six produces twice as much heat for each pound of 
weight as the adult, the infant even more. Thus the 
amount of heat produced by each pound of tissue dur- 
ing the years of most active muscular exercise between 
fifteen and twenty is only about half as great as at five 
or six, or earlier, which are years characterized by sen- 
sory more than by muscular activity. 

There seems to be but one natural explanation of the 
large amount of food and oxygen required, and of waste 
produced during infancy and childhood. Growth is a 
very expensive process, and demands the combustion of 
a large amount of nutriment, more than is consumed by 
active muscular exercise. Even opening flowers produce 
an appreciable amount of heat. Hence wise and gen- 
erous provision should be made for a liberal supply of 
food and oxygen during periods of rapid growth or 



GROWTH OF THE VISCERAL ORGANS 87 

change. Kind and quality also demand attention. It 
must be suited to the needs of the epoch. The infant's 
food must be fluid and easily digestible. The child 
craves and needs much easily digestible fat, and usually 
wishes its bread buttered on both sides and on the edges, 
craves sugar and fruits, and is always thirsty. All these 
cravings, if not too immoderate, are entirely healthy. 
Over-indulgence is generally due to previous denial of 
a healthy craving. 

Finally we should bear in mind that the digestive 
system, rather than the brain, is the foundation of all 
greatness. On it hang all the possibilities of health, 
vigor, and power, as well as of existence. A poorly 
nourished body can hardly contain or minister to a 
healthy brain. In early childhood the table and meal 
are far more important than school or books. Most of 
our diseases are due in last analysis to malnutrition or 
to lack of assimilative power. No energy without com« 
bustion, and no combustion without fuel, are as true of 
the human body as of the locomotive dragging the ex- 
press train up the steep, long grade. 

But the use of the material differs at different ages 
no less than the amount. In infancy, when the supply 
of food is relatively the largest, the smallest amount is 
burned in the muscular and nervous systems, and there 
is the largest balance remaining for growth. In early 
childhood a fair amount is used by the fundamental 
muscles, but the demands of the nervous system are 
relatively small. Growth is still the main business of 
life, and the use of the muscles is a means to this grand 
end. 

In later childhood and early youth, until twelve or 
thirteen in the girl, and a year or two later in the boy, 



88 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

the growth is more in lengtli tlian in girth, and the 
legs are growing faster than the trunk. We shall find 
reason to believe that this growth in length and mostly 
in the appendages is an especially expensive and ex- 
hausting process. Adolescence is accompanied by a rapid 
increase in girth and weight, and during its later phase 
growth in height is mostly devoted to lengthening the 
trunk. This is quite another form of growth from in- 
crease in length of leg, and has a very different mean- 
ing and effect. 

At sixteen or seventeen in the girl, and a few years 
later in the boy, growth has nearly ceased. Still very 
important changes are taking place in the body, con- 
sisting in the maturing, hardening, and toughening of 
the tissues. The endurance and power to resist unfavor- 
able conditions are not yet great. During adolescence 
and a little later, the higher centres in the brain are 
maturing, and their expenses increase. Mental excite- 
ment is an even heavier drain on the resources of the 
body than muscular effort. 

After maturity, when the tissues have become solidi- 
fied, and the organs have settled into a permanent equi- 
librium, is the great time for productive work. Energy 
is abundant. It is used with economy, because the parts 
are in smooth working order, as well as because of prac- 
tice and training. The male has a small balance to de- 
vote to reproduction. The female at, and for a time 
before, maturity economizes material. She takes in 
less oxygen, wastes less, and thus accumulates the store 
needed by the reproductive system. 

The demands of the reproductive system decrease. 
The appetite and the assimilative power both decline 
after forty-five or fifty. Male and female differ less in 



GROWTH OF THE VISCERAL ORGANS 89 

their metabolism. There is still energy for much hard 
■work, but it must be used with care and economy. In 
old age income and expenses are both small and con- 
stantly decreasing. Soon the weakest part gives way, 
and death ensues. 

Thus the different body at different ages requires 
different kinds and amounts of nourishment, and uses 
its income for quite different purposes. Viewed as a 
machine for modifying the form and results of energy 
and material the child is a totally different being from 
the youth, and the youth differs greatly from the adult. 

Our study of the neuro-muscular system showed us 
clearly that different parts of the same system grow and 
mature at different ages. In infancy and early child- 
hood the trunk muscles are relatively heaviest. Then 
the legs grow, afterward the arms. The baby and young 
child walk and run ; the older child climbs, tugs, and 
pulls, and exercises his arms. The fingers gain strength 
and precision of movement last of all. 

In the brain the sensory centres are the first to grow 
rapidly and mature, then the different motor centres 
of legs, upper arm and forearm, wrist and hand, suc- 
cessively, but overlapping one another in their acceler- 
ations of growth. It is no small matter to develop and 
train so many muscles and motor centres properly. The 
sensory centres also need long practice and much care- 
ful exercise, if child and adult are to know the world 
exactly as it is. Only when these centres have been 
fully grown and properly developed can the higher men- 
tal centres in the brain reach their highest efficiency. 
Motor and sensory powers are the foundation on which 
all the higher mental and moral efficiency rest. The 
foundation must be laid deep and strong. We should 



90 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

not grudge time or pains for this essential part of the 
growth, development, and training of our men and 
women of power. 

In infancy and early childhood the visceral organs 
are relatively large and heavy. The legs are short, the 
trunk long and nearly cylindrical. Nature is devoting 
her energy to the digestion and assimilation of the larg- 
est possible amount of food and to the removal of 
waste. Infancy is a period of almost vegetative life, 
and the same is true to quite an extent of early child- 
hood. At the same time stomach, heart, lungs, and kid- 
neys are stimulated by the use of the heavy muscles, 
and their healthy growth is insured. The small size and 
weight of the heart and the low blood-pressure favor 
growth rather than muscular or nervous efficiency. 

Before eleven or twelve there are few really mental 
interests. The higher centres of the brain are not ma- 
ture enough to crave much exercise. The child thinks ; 
but must think as a child, not as a man. Nature wiU 
cooperate with us in the development of the sensory 
powers in infancy and early childhood. After five or 
six she bids us exercise the motor powers. She does 
not ask for athletics, but for sufficient suitable exercise 
to promote the healthy growth of the muscles and vital 
organs, and through these of the brain. She is now in- 
tent upon producing a well-grown and healthy body, 
the first and essential step toward the production of 
men and women of power and efficiency. 

We shall see ^ that the average girl between ten and 
fifteen has only about three fourths, at most, of the 
lung capacity which she attains with suitable exercise. 
The lung capacity of the average boy during these years 

* See page 166. 



GROWTH OP THE VISCERAL ORGANS 91 

is probably somewbat or considerably below wbat it 
should and easily might be. Well oxygenated blood is 
absolutely essential to good digestion and assimilations 
to removal of waste, to endurance of and success inj 
work of any kind, and to resistance to disease. Wef 
have seen that bright children, certainly during these 
years and probably at all ages, have larger lung capac- 
ity than dull ones. The lung capacity is the best crite- 
rion of the health and vigor of the child. 

It is evidently of the highest importance that we 
should increase the lung capacity of children in all the 
grades by abundant exercise in the open air. For the 
same reason the ventilation of our schoolrooms, espe- 
cially for children of the lower grades, is of the utmost 
importance. 



CHAPTER VII 

MORTALITY AND MORBIDITY 

We study tlie rates of deatli and disease among children 
and youth to discover, if we can, what are their periods 
of weakness and of strength. It is of course of great 
importance that we should know just when the child 
has the least power of resistance, and needs the most 
care and more or less leniency in the tasks assigned to 
him. 

We cannot study tables of death-rates without notic- 
ing that they are much higher in some countries and 
cities than in others. In some tables they are so low at 
certain ages as to be scarcely credible. But we may 
expect that differences in the methods of taking statis- 
tics or of making out tables would affect all ages some- 
where nearly alike. The question which interests us 
most is not the absolute death-rate or the health of 
any particular city or country, but the relative rate at 
different ages. 

All tables agree in certain general results. We notice 
first the exceedingly high death-rate of the first year of 
life. In both Boston and Germany twenty-five per cent 
or more of all children die during the first year. The 
high death-rate in Boston at this age need not surprise 
us, for we expect it in a city ; though even here it is 
higher than is necessary. In Norway, a healthy country 
of farms and villages and of few cities, it rises hardly 



MORTALITY AND MORBIDITY 93 

above ten per cent, even for boys. During the first three 
or four years the death-rate remains high, though de- 
clining rapidly. Between ten and fifteen very few chil- 
dren die. They have outlived the dangers of infancy 
and have not reached those of adult life. The minimum 
death-rate occurs, in Boston ^ and in Norway at twelve, 
in England at eleven, in Germany at large at thirteen, 
in Berlin at twelve or fourteen. The lowest death-rate 
among girls is, in Boston and in England at eleven, in 
Norway at twelve, and in Germany at large at thirteen, 
in Berlin at twelve, fourteen, and fifteen, during differ- 
ent years. The differences between the different ages 
between eleven and fourteen are usually slight. After 
this the death-rate rises somewhat slowly until about 
seventeen or eighteen, when there is frequently a some- 
what sudden rise. 

During the first two years of life far more boys die 
than girls. Between five and fifteen more girls die than 
boys, though the difference is usually not very marked 
in most countries, and may be explained by the suppo- 
sition that the more severe selection in infancy has al- 
ready weeded out the weakest among the boys. Between 
eighteen and twenty-one the death-rate is higher among 
the boys. After the thirtieth or thirty-fifth year the 
superior tenacity of life in the female is still more mani- 
fest ; after sixty the preponderance of women becomes 
quite marked. Havelock Ellis ^ seems to prove that the 
constitutional vitality of the woman is greater at all 
ages, except in youth, than that of the male. This leads 
to the question whether her higher death-rate between 

^ Hartwell, Report of Director of Physical Training-, Boston, School 
Doc. no. 8, p. 45. 
^ Man and Woman, Loudon, 1894. 



94 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

fifteen and twenty, wherever this is the rule, is not due 
to wrong training or conditions of life, and whether it is 
not therefore avoidable. 

Are we justified in concluding that the years of low- 
est death-rate are those of greatest power of resistance 
to disease and of greatest health and vigor ? Probably 
this is true to a certain extent. We often say that if 
a child or youth can be " tided over " certain years, he 
will probably outgrow his weakness. If there is any 
defect or disease in the organism, it will be more likely 
to produce fatal results at the time when the body is 
weakest. This probably explains a part of the death- 
rate between seventeen and twenty-one, and may explain 
certain irregularities at other ages. Acute and zymotic 
diseases might be expected to result fatally in a larger 
proportion of cases if occurring at years of reduced 
vigor. 

But this is only one half of the truth. Natural death 
is never really sudden. It is only the sudden culmina- 
tion of a disease which has been lurking and working 
in the system for a longer or shorter period. A girl 
of eighteen dies of consumption. This disease, if un- 
checked, would produce death after a certain number of 
years, whether the period was one of vigor or of weak- 
ness. The important question for us is not : When did 
the girl die ? but. When did she contract the disease ? 
For this age also was probably one of weakness. The 
earlier date is also the time when we can use the ounce 
of prevention which is worth more than the pound of 
cure. The age of death only sets a date when it is no 
longer possible to prevent the catastrophe. Hence, 
while tables of mortality are useful, they must be sup- 
plemented by tables of morbidity showing when the 



MORTALITY AND MORBIDITY 95 

child or youth is most likely to show signs of decreased 
resisting power. 

Such tables should show the prevalence of chronic 
diseases or disorders. Measles and diphtheria may at- 
tack even the healthy. But the period of the contagious 
and infectious diseases passes mostly with early child- 
hood. Unhealthy conditions of the body, poverty of 
blood, loss of appetite, nervousness, headaches, sleep- 
lessness, show a low tone of health and liability to in- 
fection, and warn us to be on our guard. I can find no 
such reports for America. But they have been prepared 
in Sweden, in Denmark, and in parts of Germany, and 
elsewhere. We may begin with the boys' schools in 
Denmark as studied by the Danish Commission in 
1884.* We find that the boy enters school in compar- 
atively good health, only 19 per cent showing chronic 
sickness or disorder. In the ninth year the amount of 
sickness has increased to 28 per cent, an increase of 
almost 50 per cent. The morbidity rises very slowly 
to 31 per cent in the thirteenth year. It then de- 
clines slightly until the sixteenth year. In the eight- 
eenth year there is a sudden rise shown by the pupils 
of the gymnasia and Eealschulen. In these schools 
the percentages of sickness are usually high. Hertel 
concludes that the high rate of morbidity in the acade- 
mies and gymnasia is due largely to overpressure. The 
free city schools include the children of the poorest 
families living under unfavorable conditions, and these 
show a high rate of sickness. The children in the Eeal- 
schulen and the peasants' sons seem to be the healthiest 
classes at the time of entering school. The lowest rate 
of sickness was in the orphanage at Copenhagen. These 

^ Hertel, Overpressure. 



96 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

children are probably constitutionally weak, but are 
kept in comparatively good health by care and hygienic 
surroundings. This fact alone would suffice to prove 
that a large amount of the ill health is preventable. 

According to the report of the Swedish Commission ^ 
the boys of the more favored classes in the city of 
Stockholm enter school in their eighth year in fair 
health. The rate of sickness is 17 per cent. In the 
ninth year, the second year of school, the rate has more 
than doubled and amounts to 36.7 per cent. There is 
a slight decrease in the tenth year, but in the eleventh 
the rate rises again to 40 per cent. These figures ap- 
ply to the schools in the city of Stockholm alone, and 
here the rate is higher than elsewhere. In the common 
schools of Sweden the rate of sickness in the tweKth 
year is 34.4 per cent. It rises to a little over 37 per 
cent in the thirteenth year and touches 38 per cent in 
the fourteenth. It now declines. In the seventeenth 
year it is about 35 per cent in the Latin schools and 
20 per cent in the Realschulen. In the nineteenth year 
in the Latin schools, and in the twentieth of the Real- 
schulen, it rises almost or quite to 40 per cent. The 
rate of sickness is higher than in Denmark, partly 
because the examination was made in the autumn in 
Denmark and in the spring in Sweden. But in both 
countries it follows the same general course. 

Key admits and emphasizes the responsibility of 
school life with its confinement and overpressure for 
the high rate of sickness among the pupils. But he 
argues, apparently with good reason, for the connection 
of the course of the curve of morbidity with pubertal 

^ Key, Schulhygiemsche Untersuchungen, pp. 21 and 134 ; Key, Puher- 
tdtaentwickelung. 



MORTALITY AND MORBIDITY 97 

development. The curve rises until thirteen or fourteen, 
which is the period of most rapid increase in height. 
As soon as the more rapid increase in weight begins, 
there is an increase in power of resistance, and the rate 
of morbidity sinks. When, about the seventeenth or 
eighteenth year, growth diminishes rapidly and soon 
ceases, the rate rises again rapidly to its second maxi- 
mum. This view has found general, if not universal, 
acceptance. In this case the maxima and minima 
of sickness should appear earlier or later in different 
countries coincident with the hastening or delay of 
puberty. This also seems to be the fact. The general 
contour of the curve, with its maxima at about thirteeiy 
and eighteen or nineteen, and its minima at seven and 
sixteen, is fixed by the laws of growth, and hence the 
curves for different cities and countries will be similar. 

But one country or city may have a higher rate of 
sickness at nearly all ages. Thus there is more sickness 
in Stockholm than in the smaller cities and towns of 
Sweden. Again, the maxima in one country are often 
higher than in another, as in Sweden compared with 
Denmark. So in different schools. In Denmark the 
academies had the highest rate, with the gymnasia 
next, and the Kealschulen last. In such cases, when the 
boys come from similar stock and surroundings, and 
the examination is made at the same season and under 
similar conditions, it seems reasonable to explain the 
greater amount of sickness by the conditions of school 
life. 

Dr. Schmid-Monnard^ in Halle arrived at similar con- 
clusions from the study of about four thousand children. 

1 Schmid-Monnard, " Die Ohronische Kranklichkeit," Zeits.f. Schul. 
X, 598, 666. 



98 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

The boys entered the common schools with a very small 
rate of sickness, only 3 per cent. In the ninth year 
the sickness had risen to about 30 per cent. It sank 
during the tenth and eleventh, rose during the twelfth 
to almost 40 per cent, and then sank during the thir- 
teenth and fourteenth years to under 20 per cent. 
His examination included no children in these schools 
after the fourteenth year. 

The boys in the gymnasia and Realschulen close 
their first school year with a high rate of sickness, 
21 per cent. Schmid-Monnard attributes this very 
largely to the change from freedom to confinement 
and to the work of the year. In the second school year 
the rate falls to about 14 per cent. In the ninth 
or tenth year the classes are divided, one set having 
school hours in the afternoon, the other not. Those 
without school hours in the afternoon have an average 
of about 25 per cent of sickness, with maxima 
in the fourteenth and seventeenth years of 30 per 
cent and 40 per cent respectively. The boys who 
have school hours in the afternoon have a markedly 
higher rate of sickness. Their maxima are, at thirteen 
and sixteen, 60 per cent to 70 per cent I The dif- 
ference between the two sets is greatest at eighteen. 
The rate of sickness of those having afternoon hours is 
almost 60 per cent, while in those having the after- 
noons free it is less than 10 per cent. We may readily 
believe that those who are compelled to attend school 
in the afternoon are the slower, less efficient, and 
weaker, but granting all this, the figures show what 
can be accomplished by the forcing process with boys 
of this kind. 

Many other European investigations of a similar 



MORTALITY AND MORBIDITY 99 

character, whicli, however, give only the grades, hut not 
the ages of the boys, could be cited to prove that there 
is a gradual if not steady increase of sickness up to 
the twelfth or fourteenth year. This fact would seem 
to be established beyond controversy. 

We may now notice the corresponding reports con- 
cerning the health of girls. 

The Danish Commission reported concerning 11,646 
girls of all ages. Of those in the sixth year (probably 
reaUythe seventh, between six and seven), 25 per cent 
were sick. The percentage rises steadily to 43 per cent in 
the tenth year, and reaches its maximum, 51 per cent, 
in the thirteenth year. Then it declines to 40 per 
cent in the sixteenth year. The total average for all 
schools and ages was 41 per cent, compared with 
29 per cent for the boys. But in the Jagerspris home 
the average of sickness between seven and fifteen was 
only 20 per cent. This shows the reduction in the 
amount of sickness which Dr. Vahl was able to attain 
by wise and careful treatment. 

In Sweden the morbidity in the higher schools for 
girls was 28 per cent in the eighth year. In the 
ninth it rose to 50 per cent ; in the tenth there was 
a slight improvement. After this the percentage rose 
steadily to its first maximum, 64.8 per cent (!) in the thir- 
teenth year. There is, then, a somewhat irregular decline 
to 62 per cent in the seventeenth year followed by a rise 
to 68 per cent in the eighteenth year. In the nineteenth 
year the rate fell to 60.3 per cent. The Danish and 
Swedish curves of morbidity of girls follow very similar 
lines to those for the boys. But the rate of morbidity 
is higher in the girls, and their improvement during 
late adolescence is tardy and less marked. 



100 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

Key's table for anaemia, a disease very prevalent 
among girls and characteristic of a low tone of vitality, 
is very instructive. Between tlie seventh and ninth 
years 15 to 18 per cent of the girls suffer from 
this disorder. The percentage rises to 39.7 per cent 
in the thirteenth year, changes hut slightly during the 
fourteenth, sinks to 33.3 per cent in the fifteenth, and 
remains at about 40 per cent between the sixteenth and 
nineteenth years. 

Schmid-Monnard found about 20 per cent of sickness 
among girls at the close of the first year of school, aged 
seven. In the tenth and eleventh years the percentage 
doubled (40 per cent). In the thirteenth year it rose 
to 50 per cent, and fell in the fourteenth year to 25 
per cent. But in one of the higher schools for about 
five hundred girls, where, from the tenth to the fifteenth 
years, about 80 per cent did extra outside work, the per- 
centage from the fourteenth to the sixteenth years was 
nearly 60. 

Hertel found that at six the dijfference between the 
sexes was very slight. Between eleven and fourteen the 
percentage of sickness was : 





Anaemia. 


Frequent Headaches. 


Boys 


8.3 per cent 


2.4 per cent 


Girls 


22.0 


8.3 



Schmid-Monnard gives the following figures : 

Headache. Nose-bleed. Sleeplessness. 

Boys 14.0 per cent or less. 6.0 per cent or less. 2.0 per cent or less 
Girls 30.0 9.0 3.0 

We should not pass by a statement of Dr. Crichton- 
Browne in his Introduction to Dr. Hertel's " Overpress- 
ure." He speaks of the prevalence of consumption in 
highly educated and cultivated young women. He says 



MORTALITY AND MORBIDITY 101 

in substance : at all ages above tbirty-five men die of 
consumption more frequently tban women, and from 
twenty to tbirty-five tbe numbers are almost equal in 
tbe two sexes. Between fifteen and twenty tbe deatb- 
rate from tbis disease is almost tbree times as bigb 
among females as among males. Tbe disease bas de- 
creased lately far less in girls between five and fifteen 
tban at otber ages, or among boys. I can find no statis- 
tics for tbe same class of population in America, and 
do not know wbetber bis figures would bold good bere 
or not. 

It would seem bigbly probable tbat tbe increased 
deatb-rate of girls at eigbteen and tbereabout from con- 
sumption and otber diseases of relatively slow action is 
tbe culmination of an attack begun at tbirteen or four- 
teen. If we are to diminisb tbis deatb-rate, we must 
fortify tbe girl against tbe period of greatest weakness, 
wben sbe is most likely to receive bospitably tbe germs 
of fatal diseases. To accomplisb tbis we must not wait 
until tbe twelftb or tbirteentb year, but meet tbe diffi- 
culty early in cbildbood. Mucb tbe same migbt be said 
of tbe invalidism wbicb overtakes many of our women 
between twenty and tbirty. Tbe same migbt be said of 
tbe boy also, tbougb bis morbidity is not as bigb. We 
sball return to tbis subject again wben we consider tbe 
period of puberty. 

We may now attempt to draw from tbese investiga- 
tions of conditions in Nortbern Europe conclusions 
applicable in America. There is a growing conviction 
among tbose best informed tbat tbere is great over- 
pressure in tbe scbools of tbese countries, and tbat tbis 
is responsible for a good part of tbe sickness. No one 
can study tbe investigations witbout feeling tbat sick- 



102 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

ness increases in proportion to the hours of school and 
home work, and that it is inversely proportional to the 
amount of sleep and exercise. Is there overpressure in 
the average American school? and if so, how much? 
Here again statistics are lacking, and the answer is 
largely dependent upon individual opinion and observa- 
tion. I cannot believe that the pressure in our Amer- 
ican schools is generally as severe as in those of Northern 
Europe. But in this respect no two schools or classes 
are at all alike. The amount of time devoted to rest, 
physical exercise, and recreation varies extraordinarily. 
The home conditions of the pupils are not the same. 
One teacher is very severe, another very easy. 

We have some very valuable studies of fatigue, and 
concerning the difficulty of mastering different sub- 
jects. Here again, however, we have to bear in mind 
that the amount of fatigue produced by a study varies 
greatly according to the method of teaching. Good tem- 
per, enthusiasm, and an even discipline in the teacher 
can make even a difficult subject easy and enjoyable. 
A mile's walk in a treadmill is far more exhausting 
than along a country road or through woods. A study 
introduced too early is very likely to cause fatigue and 
discouragement because it strains nascent powers and 
awakens little or no interest. The same study a year 
later might be easy and interesting. It would seem to be 
an easy matter for every school to obtain from parents 
a statement of the amount of time devoted to studies 
and to other duties, and of the number of hours spent 
in sleep and in outdoor exercise. The opinion of the 
family physician concerning the health of the pupil 
would also be invaluable. This is already done in most 
schools, and should be the rule of all. The important 



MORTALITY AND MORBIDITY 103 

question is not, as so many seem to think : Do tlie de- 
mands of the school threaten seriously and evidently to 
injure the pupil? but, Are they suited in amount and 
kind to produce the best growth and development of aU 
his powers ? We wish to require what will thoroughly 
exercise and invigorate mind and body, not all that can 
be endured. These two standards and limits are quite 
different, and neither one of them has yet been clearly 
determined. Here is an exceedingly important problem, 
which still awaits solution. 

However we may answer these questions, however 
high or low we may set the percentage of weakness or 
sickness in the different grades of different schools, cer- 
tain facts are evidently clear. The amount of sickness 
tends to increase from about seven to thirteen or four- 
teen, and there is as a rule a marked rise about the 
eighth year, soon after the child enters school. The 
school may or may not be responsible for this rise in 
morbidity, but it should certainly mitigate and remedy 
it just so far as it possibly can. The period of rapid 
increase in height is always a period of comparative 
weakness, and demands attention, care, and some mercy. 
There is a second period of weakness or of decreased 
power of resistance at the close of growth, beginning 
usually about sixteen in the girl and somewhat later in 
the boy. However great our ignorance of many import- 
ant questions, this much is clear, and it demands our 
most careful thought and consideration. 



CHAPTEK VIII 

CONSTITUTION AND PERIODS OF LIFE 

Rates of mortality and of morbidity are anything 
but constant in tbe life of the child. In infancy both 
are high ; at six both are low ; at about seventeen or 
eighteen both have risen ; at thirteen mortality is at 
a minimum, and morbidity near its maximum. If either 
one or both of these rates give us any criterion of 
strength and vigor, it is clear that the health of the 
child is far from a constant quantity. Development 
is in all respects rhythmical. Periods of strength and 
of weakness alternate with each other, as do periods of 
acceleration and retardation in growth in height and 
weight. 

Is it not true, therefore, in a certain sense, that the 
constitution of the child differs at different ages? Of 
course the constitution is originally inherited from the 
parents, and is strong or weak accordingly. As a rule 
the length of our lives is roughly proportional to that 
of our parents and ancestors. The importance of this 
fact is recognized by every life insurance company. 
Some families have a marked liability to certain dis- 
eases : gout, consumption, or typhoid fever ; others are 
almost immune. The strong or slight reaction to drugs, 
poisons, stings, etc., is sometimes characteristic of all 
the members of a family. 

But a good or bad constitution is not an inalienable 
endowment. The best constitution may be injured or 



CONSTITUTION AND PERIODS OF LIFE 105 

weakened by excesses, and a bad constitution may be 
greatly improved. Probably a disease is never actually 
inherited, but only more or less of a liability or tend- 
ency to contract it. This tendency, if treated promptly, 
can be eradicated or greatly weakened. 

We have all noticed that individuals and families dif- 
fer greatly in stature, weight, and in size of bones and 
muscles. A man of light muscles and small strength 
cannot do the day's work of a strong man without con- 
siderable effort. Similarly individuals vary in the size, 
weight, and strength of their internal organs. Lung 
capacity is exceedingly variable. The capacity of the 
heart and the girth of the great arteries may be almost 
fifty per cent greater in one adult than in another of the 
same size and weight. The amount of blood probably 
differs very considerably in different individuals. 

A small heart can do the work normally required of 
a large one only under strain. If it has to pump the 
blood through smaller arteries, it must work against 
greater friction. If the burdens of life are heavy or 
the body has been weakened by disease, this strain upon 
the heart may have serious or fatal consequences. 
Beneke found that an unusually large proportion of 
those who died in an epidemic of typhoid fever had 
arteries below the average size. 

The same or even greater variations in the size of 
the internal organs may occur in infancy. Hearts of 
hardly more than one third of the normal size have been 
found in the new-born. Such a child will probably die. 
If the heart is somewhat larger he may live, but he will 
probably have a weak constitution. Or the heart may 
be strengthened and enlarged by judicious exercise, and 
the constitutional weakness outgrown. 



106 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

The same may be said of all the internal organs. 
The body is rarely made quite right in all respects. 
There is usually a weakest part somewhere, and one 
great opportunity and use of education is to make this 
weakest part just as strong as the rest. We have hardly 
begun to realize the importance and the possibilities of 
hygienic and preventive medicine. But the cure should 
be commenced as early as possible. 

Evidently a strong and sound constitution requires 
a proper balance of organs. The income furnished by 
the digestive system and the lungs must equal the ex- 
penses caused by growth or by muscular or nervous 
exercise. The heart must be equal to its emergencies. 
Rapid growth or vigorous exercise demands a good cir- 
culation to bring material, fuel, and oxygen, to the 
tissues, and to remove their waste. If any organ is 
disproportionately small, it cannot do its share of the 
work. If it is too large, it either lacks proper and 
sufficient exercise, or it robs or strains the weaker parts 
of the body. 

But the relative size and the balance of organs is 
not at all the same in the young child and in the adult. 
Roughly and approximately, between birth and matur- 
ity the muscles increase in weight about thirty-seven- 
fold ; the lungs about eighteen-fold ; liver, heart, and 
kidneys about twelve or thirteen-fold. The young child 
requires far more food and oxygen, and produces far 
more carbon dioxide, energy and waste for each pound 
of weight than the adult. In the baby the vegetative 
processes, digestion, assimilation, and growth, are most 
prominent ; in the boy and girl, locomotion ; in the 
adult, productive work. 

If adults and children of different ages have different 



CONSTITUTION AND PERIODS OF LIFE 107 

rates of mortality and morbidity, a different balance o£ 
organs, different relative incomes and modes of expend- 
iture, in one word a quite different metabolism and 
liabits, it is surely not too mucb to say that they have 
different constitutions and are leading different lives. 
They must be treated and trained quite differently. In- 
ferences drawn from the life, habits, and needs of one 
age may not apply at all at another. What is beneficial 
to the adult may harm the child ; and the reverse is 
equally true. It becomes of the utmost importance that 
we should be able to determine accurately the different 
periods in childhood and youth, and clearly recognize 
their characteristics. Otherwise our system of educa^ 
tion, while entirely logical according to adult premises, 
and framed with the best intent and with great ingenu- 
ity, may do more harm than good. 

It is urged that all our study of statistics can give 
us at best only a conception of the average child, and 
that the average child does not exist ; that we are edu- 
cating not average but actual children. This is quite 
true, and we do not sufficiently appreciate its import- 
ance. But if the argument is intended to prove that 
we may therefore neglect and disregard the difference 
between different periods of life, it becomes more amus- 
ing than convincing. 

There is probably no such thing as an average case 
of typhoid fever or of mumps. The physician is treat- 
ing an actual case of disease, not a statistical average. 
But the physician who diagnosed typhoid fever as 
mumps, and claimed that it made no difference, for 
there was nothing known to us through our experience 
which would exactly correspond to the case in hand, 
would hardly be considered wise. In all cases of any 



108 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

disease certain acts or indulgences, entirely permissible 
or beneficial during health, have to be avoided. The 
wise physician has a general idea as to what he may 
expect, and can do or may not do in each case, while he 
is alertly watching individual peculiarities, and prepared 
to meet unexpected complications. 

We arrange our course of study for the average boy 
and girl. And yet they differ mentally even more than 
physically. We carefully modify the course of instruc- 
tion and methods to suit the needs of the individual 
child whenever and in so far as we can. We claim for 
our physical study and training only that which is read- 
ily granted in the case of his mental education. 

We must always allow the possibility of precocity 
and of retardation. The girl matures more rapidly than 
the boy. One boy of nine is more advanced in growth 
and development than another at ten or eleven. It is 
always better to take precautions too early rather than 
too late. We cannot fix the exact date when one period 
closes and the next begins. The transition is usually 
gradual. Yet certain inferences from our study of 
growth and its processes may still be made, and they 
may be entirely reliable. Some very real dangers may 
be seen and avoided, and some very general rules and 
suggestions safely deduced. 

When we attempt to divide pre-adult life into natural 
periods, two stand out very sharply : infancy and ado- 
lescence. As President Hall has clearly shown, adoles- 
cence has been recognized as a most important epoch in 
all times and by all peoples. In savage tribes to-day 
the entrance of the boy into the rights and duties of 
manhood is solemnized by sacred and mysterious, often 
hard and severe if not cruel, rites and ceremonies. The 



CONSTITUTION AND PERIODS OF LIFE 109 

wise Greeks and the Romans recognized the importance 
of the epoch. We err greatly in laying so little empha- 
sis on the attainment of majority. 

The parallelism between infancy and adolescence has 
often been noticed. " Every man is born twice ; once 
at infancy, and again at adolescence." At birth the 
child enters the world, and begins his independent exist- 
ence. But his independence is very small, his powers 
are limited. His development is along racial lines laid 
down by heredity. At adolescence he enters a new 
world of social and political life. He gains new powers 
and attains the independence and freedom foreshadowed 
at birth. Individual traits become prominent. He is 
preparing for his own special place and work in the 
world. He " girds himself and goes whither he will." 
Soon boy and girl will establish a family of their own. 
They stand on the threshold of a new world. 

Each of the epochs is preceded by a period of prepar- 
ation. The life or death of the infant depends upon his 
prenatal growth and development. Similarly the years 
of late childhood and of early puberty are a preparation 
for the new birth. The butterfly is born a caterpillar. 
After a period of growth it enters the cocoon. Here a 
thorough and profound metamorphosis takes place, and 
there emerges a butterfly "glittering with golden wings." 
Infancy and early childhood are hardly more than 
larval " caterpillar " stages. They more often mask than 
betray the most important characteristics of the adult. 
Puberty is a metamorphosis. 

Each epoch is characterized by a rise in the death- 
rate. Nature guards her doorways with tests and exam- 
inations. The first one comes at birth. Is the child fit 
to live? Are all its essential vital organs sufficiently 



110 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

sound and strong to justify its entrance into the world ? 
The baby passes the first examination with or without 
great credit, and stands the test of the diseases of 
childhood. Nature says, Go on. 

Toward the end of adolescence the second great exam- 
ination period begins, which will last far longer. Is the 
youth fitted to enter upon the duties and responsibil- 
ities of adult life ? Can the boy and girl be of use in the 
world ? Is it worth while to allow them to hand down 
their traits and characteristics to a new generation ? 
Will they bequeath a sound constitution, red blood, 
tough muscles, steady nerves, strong character ? Or 
have they squandered the grand estate which ought to 
have been preserved and improved for their descend- 
ants ? Nature's entail is often broken. Physical defects, 
not discoverable in infancy, may have appeared. The 
metamorphosis may have been defective or utterly 
unsatisfactory. The youth dies. 

But in infancy and adolescence Nature is patient. 
The weak child is "conditioned," as the schools say; 
but is allowed to go on. He may improve his opportun- 
ities and become strong. Or he may neglect the warn- 
ing, and fail once more and finally. Some young men and 
women are conditioned ; they have a period of invalidism 
at the close of growth. With proper care and persist- 
ent effort they may completely recover. But Nature 
has her eye upon them. To some of them the words of 
the prophet are literally applicable : " He may certainly 
recover ; howbeit the Lord hath shewed me that he 
shall surely die." 

Useless and weak men and women who have wasted 
their strength in the riot of work or play may survive 
and have children. Here the problem becomes more 



CONSTITUTION AND PERIODS OF LIFE 111 

difficult and critical. But the children may often still 
be rescued. Behind the weak or prodigal parent there 
was a long line of sturdy ancestors, and the child may 
have inherited much or most from them. The case is 
by no means hopeless. But such children should be 
taken in hand early and carefully. They need care and 
attention, strengthening and toughening, if the family 
is to outlive their generation. 

The completeness and success of the metamorphosis, 
and the character of its results, depend very largely 
upon the amount and kind of the preparation. The 
whole business of the larval stage is to store up mate- 
rial and strength against the crisis. The case of the 
human being is very similar. This gives an inestimable 
value to the otherwise somewhat prosaic and uninter- 
esting years of later childhood. 

Four quite distinct periods thus stand out sharply 
before us and claim our most careful study : Infancy, 
the period of pure growth ; childhood, the period of pre- 
paration ; puberty, the period of metamorphosis ; ado- 
lescence, that of the rise of new powers and of entrance 
into a new world. Each of these periods might well be 
subdivided into shorter epochs, every one of which is 
characterized by progress in one or more particulars. 

Our needs may be satisfied by a simpler, though 
entirely artificial, series of divisions. We may divide 
the life of the child and youth into six epochs of three 
years each. The first triennium may be called infancy 
in lack of any better name. The epoch between the 
ages of three and six may be designated as early child- 
hood, or the kindergarten epoch. The years of later 
childhood between six and nine are passed in the earlier 
grades of school. The fourth and fifth triennia are 



112 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

passed in the grammar scliool or in the earlier years 
of the high school. They include the pubertal years, 
and one or more preceding and following. Between 
fifteen and eighteen we have to do with adolescents, 
though many of the characteristics of this epoch become 
more distinct at a slightly later date. 

We must now attempt to reconstruct the child on 
the basis of our analytical study of the growth of the 
different organs. At each epoch we must discover, as 
far as possible, his constitution, using the word in its 
literal derivative sense. We wish to know the balance 
of organs. We must discover what organs are develop- 
ing most rapidly and which will most profit by judi- 
cious exercise. Our question is : What is the very best 
use we can make of these years to promote the best and 
fullest growth and development ? 

If we can discover this much, we need not stop to 
question whether parent, teacher, superintendent, or 
the public should take the largest share of the respon- 
sibility ; or where we will unload the blame for mistakes 
mostly of our own making. Each one of us can then 
proceed to do the best he can, every one in his own 
place and according to his own opportunities, without 
attempting to portion out praise or blame. Parents 
and teachers are, or ought to be, both sufficiently inter- 
ested in the work. 

We are to study mainly or altogether the physical 
characteristics of these epochs. The mental aspects of 
child-study, important as they are, lie outside of our 
field. But we may find that the physical conditions 
explain, if they do not determine, the mental habits 
and tendencies. 

Whether our success in reconstructing the child at 



CONSTITUTION AND PERIODS OF LIFE 113 

every one of these three-year periods be great or small, 
one fact is evident at the outset. The school is dealing 
With pupils in very different stages of development. 
The pupils of the grammar grades are entering upon 
the profound changes of the physical metamorphosis of 
puberty, when growth in height and morbidity will soon 
culminate. The higher mental powers are just awaken- 
ing. The period is quite peculiar in its conditions and 
needs. These facts should greatly modify all our con- 
ceptions of and plans for education during the whole 
period. 

During the later years of the high school course we 
are dealing with adolescents. Increase in girth and lung 
capacity have strengthened, freshened, and invigorated 
the whole body. The blood is hot and driven under 
high pressure. But the pupil has not yet passed the 
second culmination of morbidity which attends cessation 
of growth. The mental powers are fresh and keen, and 
interest in study should be intense. 

During the primary and intermediate years we are 
dealing with children in the stage of preparation for the 
pubertal metamorphosis. They resemble adults about as 
closely as caterpillars resemble butterflies. Their chief 
business is to grow and to store up material and vitality. 
They have few intellectual interests. It is predominantly 
a motor period. Muscular exercise is essential to stimu- 
late digestion, assimilation, and healthy growth. 

The curriculum of each grade must be suited to the 
stage of development and needs of the child or youth. 
The needs of the pupils in these three stages are quite 
different. The curriculum, and the system and mode of 
education, must differ correspondingly. The immediate 
end and purpose of the work in each grade is peculiar 



114 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

and unique. "What would be useful and beneficent in the 
high school may be harmful in the intermediate grade, 
and vice versa. In no one of these grades is the pupil 
like the adult. In the lower grades he differs so com- 
pletely that we may easily fail altogether to understand 
his constitution, condition, and needs. The more the 
child differs from us, the greater is our difficulty in 
framing a course of exercise suited to his stage of growth 
or development. A good curriculum for the child in the 
primary grade will probably appear entirely childish and 
useless to the average adult mind. Until we recognize 
these facts we cannot hope to gain the cooperation of 
Nature in our efforts to develop strong and efficient 
men and women. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE FIRST THREE YEARS OF THE CHILD'S LIFE 

This epoch is characterized by very rapid but steadily 
decreasing growth in weight and height. The new-born 
boy weighs at birth about ^ kilos (7 J lbs.), the girl 
about 3 1 kilos (7| lbs.). The weight doubles during 
the first six months, and increases fourfold during the 
first three years. 

The height of the boy and girl is about 20 1 inches 
(52.5 cm.) at birth. It increases somewhat less than 
60 per cent during the first year, and about 75 per cent 
during the first three years. The girth of chest is 34 
centimeters (13.4 in.) or practically two thirds of the 
height. In the adult it is little more than one haM of 
the height. The trunk is long, the neck very short, and 
the legs are small. The large trunk affords room for 
the internal organs, which at this time compose a very 
large portion of the weight of the body, and are fur- 
nishing the material for the rapid growth. 

The girth of the head is at birth equal to or a little 
greater than that of the chest, 35 centimeters (13 to 
14 in.). They remain practically equal for the first two 
years, but after this time the chest increases far more 
rapidly. The ratio of these dimensions is an important 
symptom of the vigor or weakness of the child. The 
girth of the chest at birth normally exceeds one half of 
the height by nine or ten centimeters (3 J to 4 in.). 
Frobelius has shown that mortality is greater among 



116 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

children having large heads and small chests. His re- 
sults are given in the following table : 



Class. 


Chest girth exceeds 


Head girth exceeds 






one half height. 


chest girth. 


Mortality. 


I. 


9-10 cm. 


Less than 2.5 cm. 


21.0 % 


II. 


6.2 " 


2.8-3.0 " 


42.9 % 


ni. 


5.0 " 


4.7 " 


67.5 % 



In classes ii and iii the weight of the child is of 
great importance, lighter children showing a much 
greater mortality. Class iii includes a much larger 
proportion of premature births. 

The breadth across the shoulders should be about one 
fourth of the height. The forehead and cranium are very 
large, the face is small, the cavity of the mouth low. Dur- 
ing this epoch the intestine and liver are relatively large ; 
the heart is small compared with the diameter of the 
arteries, and hence the blood-pressure low. In the new- 
born child the pulse is rapid ; over 130 to the minute 
according to Vierordt,^ or almost twice as great as in 
the adult. The number of respirations per minute is 
over fifty during the first weeks, ^ and thirty-five to 
forty during the first three years. The adult breathes 
sixteen to eighteen times per minute. The brain is very 
large at birth and continues to increase rapidly during 
the whole epoch and the next. 

The most noticeable and important characteristic of 
the baby is its small size. It has about one nineteenth 
of the weight and less than one third of the height of 
the adult. This means that the surface of the child is 
large compared with its weight. The organs whose 
efficiency depends mostly upon the area of their organic 
surface, like intestine, lungs, and kidneys, have there- 
fore a great advantage. It has been reckoned that the 

^ Vierordt, Daten und Tabellen, p. 152. ^ JUd, p. igg. 



FIRST THREE YEARS OF THE CHILD'S LIFE 117 

new-born child lias two and three fourths times as much 
external surface for the same amount of mass or 
weight as the adult. Thus for every 1000 grams 
of weight the child has at birth 812 square centimeters 
of surface ; at one year, 575 ; at two years, 533 ; at 
seven years, 450 ; at ten, 412 ; at fourteen, 354 ; while 
the adult at twenty-five has 301.^ 

Because of the large amount of radiating surface, 
the body of the child loses heat far more rapidly than 
that of the adult. To make up for this loss the child 
has to produce relatively far more. Thus each kilogram 
of tissue in a child of five months produces on an aver- 
age nearly one and one half times as much heat as in 
the child of eighteen months, 2.2 times as much as 
in the child of eight years, and 3.3 times as much as in 
the adult. 

Losing so much heat, and having but poorly developed 
means of regulating, and especially of quickly increas- 
ing, the supply, the infant has very little power of 
resisting cold. Hence the great importance of proper 
clothing, and the great danger of exposure. The legs 
and arms of the young child, being very small, expose 
relatively an especially large amount of surface, and in 
the ankle and wrist the great blood-vessels lie very near 
the surface. The trunk of a child may be in a Turkish 
bath of flannels while its legs and arms freeze. This is 
a most fruitful source of mischief. The child's tissues 
are almost embryonic, flabby and watery ; hence very 
poorly suited to rise to any emergency. The adult 
human body contains 68.0 per cent of water, according 
to Moleschott ; that of the new-born 74.4 per cent, 
according to Fehling.2 Certainly the tissues of the child 

1 Vierordt, Daten und Tabellen, p. 36. ^ j^,{j. p. 249. 



118 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

are mucli richer in water ; this diminishes at first very 
rapidly, later more gradually. The large amount of 
water favors the diffusion of nutriment to the tissues, 
and thus rapidity of growth. But it decreases the power 
of resistance of the organism. 

The circulation of the blood is rapid. There is re- 
latively more of it, and a larger part of it is in the 
capillaries. Each kilogram of tissue contains at birth 
perhaps twice as much blood as in the adult. 

For all these reasons the loss of water is rapid. 
Hence the importance of frequent baths of such temper- 
ature, and so managed, that the child shall not be 
chilled. Hence also the almost unquenchable thirst of 
the child, especially during diarrhoea, or whenever the 
loss of water is in any way abnormally increased. The 
watery tissues of the child, while less resistant, are more 
plastic and adaptable ; are more easily disturbed, but 
recover more quickly. 

We have already noticed the large size and rapid 
growth of the infant brain. Starting with a weight of 
about 380 grams, or more than one fourth of its mature 
weight, it more than doubles this weight during the first 
year, and trebles it during the epoch, having at three 
years of age almost seven ninths of its adult weight. 

The nervous system is essential to life, and at the 
same time very complex. Hence it is started as early as 
possible in embryonic life, and its growth is forced to 
the utmost. But however busily and fast Nature may 
work, — and here she needs no spur, — she can have 
only a few essential and fundamental portions ready for 
use at birth. The remaining portions are in a stage of 
pure growth, and will be gradually matured through 
childhood and adolescence. 



FIRST THREE YEARS OF THE CHILD'S LIFE 119 

The spinal marrow with its centres for reflex action 
is capable of performing a certain amount of work. 
The cerebellum, or small brain, will soon be called upon 
to coordinate the movements of the muscles of the legs 
as the child learns to walk. The sensory centres of the 
cerebrum, or large brain, begin to function very early. 
The baby sees, hears, tastes, and smells immediately or 
very soon after birth. The motor centres, controlling 
the heavier muscles of trunk, shoulder, and thigh, are 
gradually maturing during this epoch. If all these 
essential portions can be brought to a fair degree of 
growth, development, and efficiency, during the brief 
space of three or even six years, it is all that can be 
possibly demanded. But these comparatively mature 
centres form at birth only a small part of the cerebrum. 
The rest of it is in a very immature, almost embryonic 
condition. 

The chief business of the baby, and of the child as 
well, is evidently growth. The importance of growth 
has already been considered. During this and the next 
epoch aU work is of importance mainly as it fosters 
growth or development. If growth is the chief busi- 
ness, material for growth is the greatest need. A large 
amount of food must be provided, digested, and assimi- 
lated. The alimentary canal of a baby is relatively long 
and has a large digestive and absorptive surface. Ac- 
cording to UfPelmann, a child two years old requires 
about two fifths as much albumin, three fifths as much 
fat, and somewhat more than one fifth as much hydro- 
carbons as the adult. ^ Yet it has attained less than one 
fifth of the adult weight. To digest and absorb so large 
an amount of material throws a heavy load upon the 
^ Uffelmami, Hygiene, pp. 703 and 263. 



120 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

immature digestive system. Hence any needless strain 
should be carefully avoided, and all conditions should be 
made as favorable as possible. Vierordt calls attention 
to the fact that the mucous membrane which lines the 
digestive tract of the infant is richer in blood and 
incomparably more sensitive, more easily injured, than 
at a later age. He continues : " The nourishment in 
infancy differs in essential points from that of later life. 
It must be very fluid. Thicker, gruel-like foods are at 
first digested with greater difficulty. It must have a 
constant temperature corresponding to that of the body. 
The organism cannot bear great variations in temper- 
ature. It must satisfy the great needs of metabolism 
and growth ; and contain suitable amounts of the essen- 
tial elements, including salts and water. It is of special 
importance that it should be suited to the digestive 
powers of the infant. Recipes concerning artificial 
foods which satisfy the needs of the organism only 
quantitatively, but have less regard to quality, should 
be carefully refused as unnatural." 

The muscular and nervous systems, which are grow- 
ing most rapidly, demand large amounts of albumin- 
oids. The various forms of starches and sugars, which 
the adult craves and needs, are neither needed nor 
craved in infancy. They merely throw a heavier bur- 
den upon a sensitive and already overloaded digestive 
system. Inorganic salts are needed in large quantities 
to build up the bones of the skeleton. The best food for 
the baby wherever possible is its own mother's milk. 
The mortality of such children is far less than that of 
those artificially nourished.^ In Sweden and Norway, 
where the children are almost all thus nourished, the 

^ Uffelmann, Hygiene, p. 54. 



FIRST THREE YEARS OF THE CHILD'S LIFE 121 

mortality during the first year was only from 10 to 
12 per cent. In Wurtemberg one third of the children 
are breast-fed. Their mortality was only 13.5. per cent ; 
that of the artificially nourished children was 42 per 
cent. In Berlin, where a little less than one third of the 
children are breast-fed, the average mortality for the 
city was about 30 per cent for the first year. Of course 
there are many cases where the mother cannot nurse 
the child. She may have insufficient milk and of poor 
quality. This is frequently the case where the mother 
is anaemic or weak or highly nervous. 

When recourse is had to artificial foods we must bear 
in mind that some of them tend to produce fat rather 
than solid flesh and bone. The baby appears to be well 
nourished, his weight increases normally, but he does 
not really thrive. Here even the scales fail to detect 
the danger, and only the keen eye of the physician or 
experienced nurse avails. 

Children who have been poorly nourished in infancy 
may recover and regain their losses later. But fre- 
quently this is not the case. Of children born in the 
famine years in Europe, in 1816 and 1817, an unusu- 
ally large number proved unfit for military service. 

According to Uffelmann, the baby during the first year 
of life, after the first fortnight, takes about one seventh 
of its own weight of milk daily.* If it is fed cow's milk 
it takes more, and apparently digests it less completely. 
Vomiting at this time, unless frequent or continuous, is 
not alarming. The position of the stomach and the weak- 
ness of the muscles closing its upper end make this act 
far easier and less significant than in the adult. 

After the baby is weaned the range of his diet widens 

^ Uffelmann, Hygiene, p. 686. 



122 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

very gradually. Tlie food must still be rich in albumin' 
oids and must remain largely fluid. Still the stomach is 
incapable of thoroughly digesting the thick-walled cells 
of most vegetable foods. The way for solid foods must 
be paved gradually. During even the next epoch as weU, 
the child is still solving the problem of digesting and 
assimilating the largest possible amount of food with 
a digestive system which is still sensitive and easily dis- 
ordered. 

But a liberal supply of nourishment is only the first 
condition of healthy growth. Second is the need of 
plenty of oxygen, of pure air. The new-born baby 
breathes about thirty-five times a minute, the adult 
twelve to sixteen. The figures differ greatly here.^ 
There is no doubt that the child uses relatively far more 
oxygen than the adult, and produces far more carbon 
dioxide. 2 The child is far more sensitive than the adult 
to impure or damp air. Probably the excessive dryness 
of our furnace-heated houses is almost equally deleteri- 
ous. It is a good deal to expect of a baby that he will 
thrive in an atmosphere where fairly tough plants die. 
Hence the value of outdoor life for the child. Dr. 
Holt tells us that almost the only explanation of the 
health of many country children who live on unwisely 
selected and badly prepared food is the abundant fresh 
air in which they live. 

The third need of every growing organism is light 
and sunshine. Animals produce from a twelfth to one 
fourth more carbonic acid in light than in darkness.^ 
Their temperature is often perceptibly higher. Both 

1 Percy, First Three Years of Childhood, pp. 346, 353; Vierordt, 
Daten und Tabellen, p. 165. ^ Vierordt,- Daf en, pp. 176, 24, 352. 

^ Uffelmann, Hygiene^ p. 21. 



FIRST THREE YEARS OF THE CHILD'S LIFE 123 

these symptoms suggest greater vigor. The effect of 
a sunshiny exposure on the dampness of the air and on 
the development of germs is also of great importance. 
Hence the nursery should always be the best room in 
the house ; large, sunny, and with large windows. After 
the baby has outgrown his first shyness of light, the 
more sunshine in the room the better. The temperature 
of the room is very important. Every plant has its own 
special temperature which is necessary for its most 
rapid growth. This " optimum temperature " differs, 
of course, in different plants. Wherever man may have 
first originated, the best temperature and climate for 
the baby is surely not that of the Desert of Sahara. Dr. 
Holt again reminds us that the nursery is almost al- 
ways kept too hot from fear that the baby will " catch 
cold." Here the thermometer is a much safer guide 
than the feeling that the temperature of the room, and 
of the bath also, is " about right." 

Next only to food, air, and light, as stimuli to growth, 
we must reckon sleep. This is especially necessary dur- 
ing periods of rapid growth, because of the rapid meta- 
bolism and the small power of endurance. Even when 
a year old, a baby sleeps longer than it remains awake. 
Most authorities teU us that ten or eleven hours' sleep 
are none too many for a child even six to ten years 
old. 

Thus far we have considered the child almost as a 
mere vegetable. We have attempted to surround him 
with suitable conditions, and then to let him grow of 
himself. But the baby is more than a vegetable, it has 
a nervous and a muscular system. These also are grow- 
ing of themselves, almost like vegetables. But they 
crave and need suitable exercise. 



124 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

The brain is growing witli great rapidity. The whole 
nervous system is sensitive and irritable. The baby 
reacts very strongly to slight stimuli. Irritation of the 
digestive system may produce convulsions. Hence for 
the growth of this system quiet, rest, and peace are 
more important than artificial stimuli. Sometimes a 
tired and irritable baby is rested and put to sleep more 
quickly by being allowed to lie still than by any churn- 
ing process, however vigorously applied. The " dendro- 
psychoses " of the child are hardly so fixed and dominant 
that he can be benefited by being tossed up to the ceiling. 

Yet even here we may rush from one extreme to 
another. It has been found that babies often do not 
thrive in hospitals which are most carefully and hygien- 
ically built and managed. The explanation has been 
suggested that the baby lay too long, and lacked the 
massage of the tending of the mother or nurse. The 
licking, we might almost call it kneading, of the young 
kitten by the mother, suggests that a certain amount of 
this massage may be exceedingly beneficial and perhaps 
essential. 

Certain parts of the muscular system begin to crave 
real exercise earlier than we suspect. Writhing, wrig- 
gling, kicking, swinging its arms, reaching, and grasp- 
ing, are all exercises which the baby keenly enjoys. 
Soon it begins to creep, and then to walk. All these 
exercises conduce to health and growth. "A good 
creeper is a good teether." 

Hence from the start the baby should be allowed or 
encouraged to indulge in such exercise. Its clothing 
should not hamper movement, much less check respira- 
tion or circulation. It should be allowed its time of 
free movements on a pile of rugs on the floor, if safe 



FIRST THREE YEARS OF THE CHILD'S LIFE 125 

from drafts; or on tlie bed, where it can kick and 
cavort all it wiU. The growing muscles are craving 
exercise, and the exercise stimulates growth not only 
of the muscles but of the nervous system as well. 

We may now consider the mortality of infancy. 

Of 1000 children born alive there die during the 
first year : in Jemtland (Sweden), 90 ; in Norway, 104 ; 
in Scotland, 119 ; in Belgium, 155 ; in England, 167 ; 
in France, 173 ; in Italy, 232 ; in Prussia, 240 ; in 
Austria, 251 ; in Bavaria, 311 ; in Wiirtemberg, 360. 
Uffelmann's book, from which these figures are taken, 
appeared in 1889. Eross found from a study of sta- 
tistics of European cities that nearly ten per cent of all 
children died during the first four weeks after birth ; 
and that of these deaths more than one half were due 
to congenital debility. Pneumonia was also exceed- 
ingly common. The mortality rates of infants decrease 
steadily with increasing age. The highest death-rate 
falls in the first week, month, and year. 

Greater mortality in cities is universally recognized. 
Oesterlen states that in seven European cities, of every 
100 born there die in the first five years of life 33.6 
per cent ; in the country, 27.28 per cent. In England, 
in cities of more than 20,000 inhabitants, 51.39 per 
cent die during the first ten years ; in smaller cities, 
46.79 per cent ; in the country, 35.4 per cent. In great 
industrial cities the mortality of children is very excess- 
ive. In Manchester, Birmingham, and Liverpool 25 
per cent of all children born alive die during the first 
year. In St. Olaves, 36 per cent ; in Chemnitz, 48 per 
cent. This results from the high birth-rate, allowing 

1 Uffelmann, Hygiene, p. 678. 



126 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

less care for each child, from poor nourishment, over- 
crowding, and unsanitary surroundings. 

The prosperity of the family is important. Clay 
reckoned for England that of 100 infants born alive 
there would survive after the first year : of the highest 
classes, 90 ; of tradespeople, 79 ; of laborers, 68. After 
the tenth year the figure for the three classes would be 
81, 56, and 38 respectively. 

The high death-rate in the overcrowded portions of 
our cities results therefore from a combination of factors 
besides those already mentioned. Some of these are 
the weak constitution of the parents, the work of the 
mother during pregnancy and while caring for the 
infant, insufficient and unsuitable nourishment, lack of 
proper medical attendance, prevalence of zymotic dis- 
eases. 

Zymotic diseases are responsible for nearly 20 per 
cent of infant mortality. These are rare in infants of the 
better classes because of the isolation furnished by the 
home. But in the crowded rooms of the poorer class 
they are exceedingly dangerous. About 35 per cent of 
aU deaths from zymotic diseases occur under the age of 
one year, and no fewer than 76 per cent under the age 
of five years. The older child resists far better than the 
younger. Of 1000 cases at each age of scarlet fever 
392 died in the first year, and only 130 in the fifth. 

Whooping-cough is very dangerous during the first 
year. Croup and diphtheria are often confounded ; but 
croup is more frequent in the second year, and diphtheria 
during the fourth. True infantile diarrhoea is an ex- 
ceedingly frequent and dangerous disease among the 
children of the poorer classes, arising from a variety 
of causes, but mostly from bad feeding. The great 



FIRST THREE YEARS OF THE CHILD'S LIFE 127 

danger of teething is the liability to diarrhoea. The 
teething in itself seems to be only an irritation weaken- 
ing the child, and thus rendering him less resistant to 
digestive disorders likely to attack him at this age. 

Uffelmann says : New-born infants suffer largely 
from general weakness and from digestive disorders. 
During the remaining eleven months of the first year 
they are liable especially to digestive disorders, second to 
respiratory and nervous affections. Infectious diseases 
are relatively rare. From the second to the sixth years, 
inclusive, they suffer especially from respiratory affec- 
tions and from infectious diseases. 

We have seen that the constitution of the infant is an 
hereditary endowment and weak or strong accordingly. 
The hereditary constitution is usually healthy actually 
or potentially. The two or three generations immedi- 
ately preceding us may have some slight tendencies 
toward disease, but behind them there must have been 
a long series of sturdy ancestors, or we would not be 
here. " Madam," said the shrewd country doctor, 
" don't forget that that baby was made all right. Don't 
you go and spoil it." Yet this is only one half of the 
truth, and the other half demands at least equal empha- 
sis. Every one has his weakest spot. 

If the children are to be healthy, we must begin with 
the parents. They should bear in mind that if they are 
feeble or intemperate, if they have wasted their vital 
powers in the pursuit of pleasure, wealth or fame, through 
indulgence, or excess of hard labor, especially of mental 
and sedentary work, they cannot expect to have entirely 
sound and healthy children. " Our constitution is an 
entailed estate which must pass to our heirs with all its 
worth and incumbrances." 



128 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

But we are liable to waste a great deal of valuable 
time in discussing and mourning over bad hereditary 
tendencies, which can no longer be avoided, when we 
ought to turn our attention to early environment, which 
can do more than we yet suspect to eradicate or suppress 
the worst hereditary tendencies. 

One of our worst dangers, one against which every child 
should be fortified, and against which he can be strength- 
ened almost from the day of his birth, is nervous insta- 
bility. The child is weak in self-control, lacking in 
inhibitory power. It is governed or led by, or continu- 
ally responds to, conditions in its surroundings. It is 
imitative almost as soon as it can notice. It is remark- 
ably amenable to suggestion, almost as much so as the 
hypnotized patient. In one word, express it as you will, 
it is exceedingly impressible. Every impression on the 
nervous system modifies its growth and influences its 
mature condition. Hence the surroundings of the infant 
go far to determine the adult character. A nervous or 
fidgety nurse or parent, abrupt or too quick in her mo- 
tions, friends who wish to amuse the baby by abusing 
him, any or all together can work permanent harm far 
greater than we suspect. Not only the overt acts but 
even the mental condition of the attendant are reflected 
day after day and month after month by the child. 
Thus his nervous system becomes calm and steady, or 
weak, unstable, and irritable. And this condition rapidly 
becomes fixed and permanent. 



CHAPTER X 

THE KINDEEGARTEN PERIOD 

We include here the second triennium of life from 
the fourth to the seventh birthday. The child at three 
weighs about fourteen kilograms (30 lbs.) ; at six 
about twenty kilograms (45 lbs.), or one third of the 
adult weight. The gain during the whole epoch is about 
forty-five per cent. It is most rapid during the fourth 
year, and suffers a marked and often sudden decline in 
the sixth. 

The height of the boy at three is a little more than 
ninety centimeters (about 36 in.). At six it is one 
hundred and ten centimeters (44 in.). The gain in 
height is about twenty-five per cent, but varies consider- 
ably in different individuals and populations. The girl 
shows a little less height and gain ; but the growth of 
boys and of girls is about the same up to the sixth 
year. The child has a little less than one pound of 
weight for each inch of height. The distance from 
armpit to hip increases over eleven per cent, almost as 
much as during the next two epochs. The sitting-height 
is still large in both boys and girls, over fifty per cent 
of the standing-height. But the portion of the body 
below the hips gains almost twice as much during this 
epoch as that above the same point. The trunk is losing. 
The centre of growth is shifting from the trunk to the 
legs and arms. The child is stretching. This change in 
the mode of growth will show its effects more markedly 
during the next epoch. The shoulders now stand out 



130 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

more sharply from the trunk, mostly because of the 
growth of the bones of the shoulder girdle. 

The percentile increase of the chest-girth is good, 
almost as great as during the next six years together. 
The girth is over fifty-six per cent of the standing- 
height. But this percentage decreases considerably dur- 
ing the epoch. The chest is increasing in breadth far 
more rapidly than in depth. The upper arm and thigh 
are gaining more rapidly than the lower, arm in the boy. 
Quetelet's figures for the girl show a quite different 
result. Here we need better and fuller series of measure- 
ments. We should expect rapid growth of the upper 
arm and leg, for the movements are largely those of 
the whole limb. The lung capacity of the boy at six 
is larger both absolutely and relatively than that of the 
girl. This may possibly be normal, but we should not 
expect noticeable difference at this age. It is probably 
the result of improper dress and unwise training. The 
vast importance of a large vital capacity will become 
more and more important as we pass to succeeding 
epochs. At the very beginning of the next epoch we 
shall find that the girl already shows a tendency to 
disorders which result from lack of thorough oxygena- 
tion of the blood and of outdoor exercise. 

If we may rely on Yierordt's somewhat meagre data, 
intestine, heart, liver, and kidneys are still, relatively to 
the weight of the body, somewhat or considerably larger 
than during the next epoch. The preponderance of the 
vegetative organs, so marked in infancy, still continues, 
but is gradually passing away. The chief business of 
the organism is still growth. 

The muscles seem to form a larger part of the weight 
of the body at birth than at any other time during the 



THE KINDERGARTEN PERIOD 131 

first three years. Other organs are growing far more 
rapidly. But about four the muscles of the legs, at 
least, begin to gain considerably. The muscles of the 
arms form nearly the same part of the weight of the 
body as at birth. They are less precocious. The over- 
hang of the shoulders is probably due more to growth 
of bone than of muscle. The trunk muscles still remain 
in advance of the others. 

We have seen that the brain of the child at three has 
attained about seven ninths of its adult weight. We 
may estimate that at six it has attained about nine 
tenths. The material and energy which were formerly 
devoted to increase and size are used in some other way. 
We may be sure that growth or development is still 
rapid. From this time on a slight increase in weight is 
accompanied by a steadily increasing gain in efficiency. 
Of the exact seat of the changes in the nervous system 
we are still uncertain. Tha spinal marrow is relatively 
far advanced toward maturity. The running of the child 
shows that the cerebellum has already developed much. 
But this portion has more still to gain than the cere- 
brum. Probably the motor centres of the cerebrum, 
controlling the movements of the muscles of trunk, 
shoulder, and thigh, the less complex fundamental cen- 
tres, are already well advanced. Even those controlling 
upper arm and lower leg may very probably be matur- 
ing fast. The motor centres of the hand and fingers 
are still very immature. The finer and more precise 
movements have been given up in the kindergartens on 
this account. 

But the sensory centres are far in advance of the motor. 
The eyes are now at their very best, the ears are wide 
open, everything is still handled with eagerness. Thus 



132 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

this epoch is characterized by great sensory develop- 
ment and efficiency, and by the use of the heavier 
muscles, especially those of the legs. The child's plays 
are usually of a quieter sort than during the next epoch. 

Atwater says that the child between two and five 
requires about one third of the amount of food of a 
man engaged in hard labor ; and somewhat less than 
one half as much as the man at light work. The 
amount of food required is evidently large compared 
with the weight. 

The surface of the body is still large relatively to the 
mass. Hence a relatively large amount of heat must 
be produced. Metabolism is very rapid. The organism 
is sparing of energy, and uses all its material for growth. 
Hence conditions for growth are still of supreme im- 
portance. The child who eats well, sleeps weU, lives in 
good air and sunshine, and therefore grows well, has had 
all his needs supplied, and is doing his whole duty. 

The child has " taken his place as a member of the 
family rather than as an elevated centre around which 
the whole family revolves." He gradually shares the 
food of the rest of the family. Still he needs nourish- 
ing food which can be easily digested, because of the 
sensitiveness of the lining of the intestine. If he will 
take plenty of milk, it may still form one of the best 
elements of his food. But other things are also needed. 
The relative proportion of fat required is still large. 
Hence the desire of the child to have his bread buttered 
on both sides and on the edges is not without some 
physiological basis. There is a slowly increasing demand 
for carbo-hydrates to furnish fuel for the muscles. He 
learns to Kke the finer and more easily digestible vege- 
tables. From now on the craving for sugar will increase. 



THE KINDERGARTEN PERIOD 133 

This valuable nutriment will benefit in moderate quan- 
tities, and when it will not destroy the appetite for other 
kinds of food. If given a moderate quantity of sweets 
each day he will be less likely to overindulge on holi- 
days spent with his grandmother. The craving for ripe 
and sound fruit is equally natural and healthy. The 
thirst of the child is still uncontrollable and unabated. 
The larger amount of water aids the diffusion of nutri- 
ment, the removal of waste, and is generally beneficial. 
The baby was satisfied with one kind and form of food ; 
the child begins to crave variety. 

The child needs food at more frequent intervals than 
the adult. The supply eaten at one meal is soon ex- 
hausted if easily digestible as it should be. Naturally 
the child runs to the pantry in the middle of the morn- 
ing and again in the afternoon. The slice of bread and 
butter with a sprinkling of sugar will " stay the empty 
stomach," and will increase, rather than diminish, the 
appetite for the next meal. This mid-morning lunch 
may well be continued through the years of school life. 
The appetite of the average child is healthy and usually 
fuUy as safe a guide as the opinions and prejudices, not 
to say fads, of his elders. He has his own constitution, 
organization, and needs, and they are not as ours. At 
least we might try the experiment of sometimes giving 
him the benefit of the doubt. 

The years from three to six are usually compara- 
tively free from sickness. Still the delicate linings of 
the digestive and respiratory organs are the most vul- 
nerable points of the body. The young child has suc- 
cessfully passed Nature's first examination and test, 
and has been found fit to enter upon life. The second 
great test does not come until a decade later. The 



134 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

young child at home is less likely to contract conta- 
gious diseases than during school life. These are also 
less dangerous than in infancy, for the child has far 
greater power of resistance. 

Not only is sickness becoming rarer, but the death- 
rate is rapidly decreasing. Thus Hartwell gives for 
Boston a rate of 37.68 per thousand living in the third 
year of life. In the fourth year it has fallen to 25.66, 
a decrease of 33 per cent. In the sixth year it has de- 
creased to 15.65. This is still about four times as great 
as it will be in the twelfth year, but not much more 
than one eighth of what it was even in the second year 
of life. The prospects of the child of three or four are 
very good. 

Still hereditary or congenital weakness may betray 
itself during these years. Scrofula, rachitis, anaemia, 
occurring here, to say nothing of chronic delicacy or 
weakness, are signs that Nature has allowed the child 
to go on only " conditioned " and on probation, as it 
were. She will give it a fair trial before condemning 
it. It is the duty of the parent to see that these con- 
ditions and deficiencies are " made up " and removed. 
This and the following epoch are a golden season for 
insuring a healthy growth and development. Now is the 
time for hygiene and preventive medicine. The reme- 
dies are mostly few and simple, and the best tonic is 
plenty of fresh air and sleep. 

The kindergarten epoch is predominantly sensory, 
but even at this age the child enjoys motion. It runs, 
and will soon begin to climb. It is less restless and 
more easily interested in quiet games than during the 
two following epochs. But every desire to run and 
Jump should be encouraged, and the tendency to quiet- 



THE KINDERGARTEN PERIOD 133 

ness sliould not lead us to encourage this as the chief 
virtue. The clothing, especially of the girl, is often 
ill-suited to its purpose, which is to insure protection 
against cold, especially in the legs and arms, and still 
to allow the greatest freedom of motion. 

The kindergarten has proved itseK to be an almost 
ideal school for this epoch. Its success is due very 
largely to the fact that, in general, it takes children as 
it finds them, and does not try to. force upon them 
methods of thought and action suited only to the adult. 
A very careful study of the kindergarten and the child 
is given by Burk in his " Kindergarten Problem." i He 
finds that the plays of this period can be divided into 
three classes. The first class includes Plays of Physical 
Action, — running, kicking, sliding, climbing, throw- 
ing, etc. Balls and driving-reins were the most popular 
toys. "These games give free exercise, but there is 
a decided lack of games of competition or of force, also 
of games involving fine accuracy or skill. They involve 
mainly the fundamental muscles and movements, but 
afford a great variety of exercise." Burk wisely urges 
that more of the simplest toys should be introduced to 
stimulate the play interest and call forth its expres- 
sion. 

Under the second class of Eepresentative Plays oc- 
cur : being an animal, making things, and representing 
adult occupations. The child imitates the adult or some 
animal. Here the sand-pile furnishes endless opportun- 
ities. Dolls and housekeeping begin. The weakness of 
the child's constructive powers is more than compen- 
sated by his imagination. « The representative plays of 
this epoch may be characterized by their fragmentary 

^ Burk, The Study of the Kindergarten Problem. 



136 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

nature, that is, their selection of a few features; their 
simplicity as shown in the relation of those playing ; and 
their emphasis of the element of action." 

The third class, Traditional Plays, like London 
Bridge, Puss in a corner, tag, etc., were less frequently 
employed. These seem to demand more cooperation and 
organization than the child is capable or fond of show- 
ing. They become popular at a somewhat later stage. 
Miniature gardens, where the child can plant, weed, 
and dig, seem to have been exceedingly successful and 
popular in some localities. 

President Hall's monograph on the " Contents of 
Children's Minds " * opened our eyes to a frequent 
defect of training during this epoch. Of the children 
tested in Boston over three fifths had apparently never 
seen a crow, an ant, a squirrel, or a robin. Over four 
fifths did not know a pine, an oak, an elm, or a maple. 
Less than one fourth were ignorant of butterfly, hen, 
or cow ; but one haK did not know about frogs or bees. 
The ignorance of the children of Kansas City was far 
less pronounced and painful, though bad enough. 

The sensory organs are the mouths of the child's 
mind. Through them the material is taken in which 
the mind digests and assimilates, and by whose digestion 
it grows and develops. If the senses are allowed to 
remain or become dull, the prospect or possibility of 
the highest and most active intelligence is decreased or 
destroyed at the very outset. The really efficient man 
is always a wide, keen, and quick observer. The 
inventor who has observed the need of the community 
has already solved one half of the problem of his inven- 

^ Hall's " Contents of Children's Minds on Entering School," Fed. 
Sem. vol. i. 



THE KINDERGARTEN PERIOD 137 

tion. These powers must be developed now, if at aU. 
Hence their use and exercise should be encouraged in 
every possible way. 

The observation of, and interest in, natural objects 
should become a fixed habit. The child who has never 
had his eyes thoroughly trained to observe and examine 
Nature will never love her as he should. All his later life 
he will wander blind through a world teeming with 
beauties and miracles. When we fail to encourage 
sensory development we rob the child of his birthright. 

The fibres of the association areas in the brain seem 
to connect different sensory and motor centres. These 
connecting fibres are the seat of the highest powers of 
the mind. At least, this is the most probable theory 
at the present time. The development of these highest 
centres proceeds from and depends upon that of the 
sensory and motor areas which they connect. Here is 
still another reason for thinking that the intelligence 
of the individual is best insured and increased by the 
fullest possible use of the sensory areas now, and of 
the motor areas when these in their turn begin to crave 
exercise. 

The climate of our Northern States is one of the great- 
est hindrances to the complete success of the kinder- 
garten. Ideally the child should be trained in the open 
air and sunshine in free and constant contact with 
Nature. This is possible in our rigorous climate only 
during late spring and summer and early fall. Every 
child ought to have at least one pair of grandparents 
living on a farm in the hills or by the sea, and should 
spend the summer, and more if possible, with them. No 
child should be doomed to life in the city for the 
whole year. He should have a respite. We must at 



138 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

least see to it tliat if the. child must spend most of its 
time indoors, tlie recesses shall be frequent and long, 
the rooms light, airy, and well ventilated. Most adults 
have lost the power of recognizing whether the air in 
a well-warmed room is fit to breathe or not. If the child 
cannot go to the woods, we must bring the spoils of the 
woods to him. Yet this is but a poor substitute for the 
real opportunity. 

Finally the teacher of the kindergarten may well be 
on her guard that mysticism or love of system, the adult 
sesthetic sense for pleasing games in group or circle, 
does not rob the child of its inalienable right to indi- 
vidual freedom of action and movement, or destroy its 
resourcefulness, ingenuity, and power of taking the 
initiative. The rhythmic waving of tiny hands is very 
beautiful. But from the hygienic standpoint the use of the 
heavy fundamental muscles, while apparently somewhat 
rough, crude, and barbarous, is far more profitable. 
"This ought ye to do, and not to leave the other undone.'* 
The child is not yet saint or sage, gentleman or lady* 
He had best act and move as a healthy, natural child' 



CHAPTER XI 

THE CHILD ENTEEING SCHOOL 

During this third epoch the child is a strange and 
interesting being, whose organs are at widely different 
stages of growth or development. At six there is but 
little difference between the sexes, though the girl 
already begins to show signs of the precocity which will 
characterize her future development. The child at six 
weighs about twenty kilograms (45 lbs.) ; at nine a 
little less than twenty-seven kilograms (60 lbs.). The 
girl is a little lighter than the boy. The gain during 
the epoch is about thirty-one per cent, or two thirds 
of that during the last epoch. The weight at six is 
about one third of that of the adult. 

The height of the boy at six is one hundred and 
twelve centimeters (44 in.) ; at nine it is one hundred 
and twenty-seven centimeters (50 in.). The increase 
during the epoch is somewhat over thirteen per cent 
for both boys and girls, a little more than one half of 
the percentile increase of the preceding triennium. 

The ratio of sitting to standing height is diminish- 
ing. The increase of sitting-height is about nine per 
cent. According to Zeising,i the distance from hip to 
armpit increases only about three per cent. Increase 
of chest-girth is slight, about two thirds as rapid as 
that of standing-height. The chest-girth at nine is but 
little more than one half of the standing-height, and 

^ Vierordt, Daten und Tahellen, p. 18. 



140 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

tlie ratio is still falling. The measurements of muscular 
girths of arm and leg were taken by different observers 
from different groups of individuals, and are hardly 
comparable. Hence their increase at this time is still 
uncertain. 

If all organs were equally developed, each would 
have attained one third of its adult weight. This is not 
the case. The digestive system is still in advance of all 
the other organs. Liver and kidneys are still relatively 
large, but are fast sinking to their adult proportions. 
The size of these vegetative organs reminds us that we 
still have to do with an organism which retains strongly 
marked infantile conditions and characters, whose chief 
business is even yet growth fully as much as develop- 
ment. The lungs are small, but the greater ratio of 
surface to mass, and the more rapid breathing may 
compensate somewhat for their lack of size. 

During this epoch the heart is at a minimum. It 
has hardly more than one fourth of its adult weight, 
and has to force the blood over a body which has two 
thirds of its adult height. This relative decrease in 
weight and power comes at a time when the muscles 
are beginning to crave much exercise. This makes far 
greater demands upon the heart than mere rapid growth 
could cause. Christopher has already called attention 
to the fact that other symptoms of heart weakness, such 
as shortness of breath, are not at all uncommon at this 
age. Holt accepts this explanation of the child's quick 
fatigue about the eighth year. Christopher does not 
hesitate to call it the fatigue year. 

It would seem quite possible that the explanation of 
the crisis, frequently noticed before it was explained, is 
to be sought in a general condition of the body, which 



THE CHILD ENTERING SCHOOL 141 

manifests itseK in a weakness of several organs. This is 
the time when the brain has stopped its rapid increase 
in weight. The permanent teeth appear, symptoms of 
a preparation for a change in food and in mode of life. 
Muscular activity is increasing rapidly. The old struc- 
ture is not fully adapted to the new needs and conditions. 
It must readapt itself. This period of readaptation, we 
might almost say of reorganization, is necessarily a pe- 
riod of weakness. If the nervous control of the arteries, 
the vaso-motor apparatus, is still incomplete, as it may 
well be, we should expect to find the body ill adapted to 
meet the new emergencies. 

We have seen that about eight in the boy, the strength 
of the muscles of the forearm is increasing far more 
rapidly than the cross-section of the muscles warrants. 
We noticed in Gilbert's investigations that power of 
rapidity in tapping increases rapidly at the same age. 
We found that the muscles fatigued easily. These 
facts would seem to show that the motor centres in the 
cerebrum which control the movements of forearm and 
hand are developing very rapidly. The movements of 
the fingers become stronger and more precise through- 
out the epoch. 

Mortality continues to decrease throughout this and 
the next epoch. Judged from this standpoint alone, the 
child is steadily improving in health and vigor. But at 
eight there is a rapid, often sudden, increase of mor- 
bidity. Evidently the crisis or transition is not suf- 
ficient to affect life directly. It leaves the child in an 
unstable, sensitive condition. 

Schmid-Monnard has called attention to the fact that 
about seven, or very soon after that year, the morbidity 
of the girl begins noticeably to exceed that of the boy, 



142 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

and that the increase is very largely due to poverty o£ 
blood and its consequences. We can consider this sub- 
ject better when we study the next period. It is sufficient 
to observe here that this points to the great need of 
exercise and open air during this first crisis. We must 
not forget that this is the golden time for storing up 
material and vigor against the pubertal metamorphosis, 
whose lean years are so soon to follow. Hence the su- 
preme need of the epoch is hygienic surroundings suited 
to promote general growth and vigor. The child should 
have plenty of plain food, of air, sunshine, and sleep. 
Light, air, and suitable desks are an absolute necessity 
in the school. The lower grades need the newest, most 
carefully constructed, best warmed and ventilated build- 
ings. They are far more susceptible to bad conditions 
than the older pupils of the high school. 

Curvature of the spine is easily started in this epoch, 
though more frequent and aggravated in the next. The 
power of the eye to accommodate itself to different dis- 
tances is now very great. Dr. Standish has called at- 
tention to the danger which springs from this fact. The 
child feels that he sees an object better when it is held 
near to his eyes. In reading or study, especially if the 
words are new or difficult, he holds the book too near 
or bends over it. He thus forms a habit of near-sight- 
edness which soon becomes fixed as a disease. He needs 
careful training, and often much reminding, to teach 
him to keep the book at a proper distance. 

We have seen that the craving for exercise of a 
rapidly growing centre of the brain manifests itself as 
an interest. Superintendent Taylor ^ has attempted to 

1 " Children's Hopes," Beport ofN. Y. State Supt. of Public Instruc* 
tion, 1896. 



THE CHILD ENTERING SCHOOL 143 

solve the question as to tlie interests of this epoch by 
answers made by children to the question as to what 
they hoped to do when grown up. He tells us that 
trades are most popular between seven and nine. An 
occupation dealing with tools, plants, or animals, ap- 
peals most strongly to the younger boys. Many dwell 
with evident delight on details of farm life. Young 
carpenters and masons are anxious to make a house, an 
ice-box, or almost anything useful. More boys between 
seven and ten wish to be railroad men, firemen, or engin- 
eers, or policemen, than between eleven and fourteen. 
Girls now wish to be dressmakers or teachers. Nearly 
all children regard handcraft with great favor. Until 
the age of eleven or twelve they look forward with 
bright anticipation to the time when they may do man- 
ual labor. I have given Superintendent Taylor's words 
as far as is consistent with condensation. 

The kindergarten child was quieter, more inclined 
to use his sensory organs. Almost since babyhood he 
has been observing and imitating. In imagination he has 
been and played the part of aU sorts and conditions of 
animals and men. He has played himself into a wider 
knowledge of the world than we suspect. But his world 
has enlarged so rapidly that he has not been able to 
adjust himseK to it. Children at this age are predom- 
inantly motor and are anxious to know the use of ev- 
erything. The kindergarten child asks, " What is it ? " 
The child in the primary grades asks, " What is it 
for ? " It is a period of very incomplete development of 
the highest and finest motor centres, especially of the 
fingers ; and one of quick fatigue. The child is anxious 
to do and to make. The creating and fashioning instinct 
is beginning to manifest itself. It is not enough to 



144 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

imitate in imagination and to play that lie is doing some- 
tliing. He wishes to realize some of his imaginations. 

But imagination no longer covers a multitude of 
defects, or makes deficiencies good. He feels his lack 
of success, and is easily discouraged. The kindergarten 
child draws anything and everything which is proposed 
to him. Now the child hesitates. Mr. Bailey tells us 
that if he does not learn to draw before he is nine 
years old, he will not learn at all in the school. Draw- 
ing is only one of many accomplishments where the child 
now forms habits of hesitation and inertia, habits whose 
eradication becomes more difficult as years go by. There 
is a very real danger of his sinking into inactivity or 
living in an imaginary world, realizing and accomplish- 
ing nothing while dreaming of everything. 

Triplett finds that the years from seven to nine are 
characterized by frequency of loss of interest in school 
work and of failure. It is not impossible that the tend- 
ency to drop out of school and go into trade or any 
kind of work which shows its results several years later 
may be started now. It is a time of much discourage- 
ment for the child, and almost equally so for teacher and 
superintendent. 

Any manual work must be easy and simple, or it will 
add to his discouragement. He needs much encourage- 
ment, and even then accomplishes little. Perseverance 
and long application to tasks at any one time cannot be 
expected of him. If the habit could be compelled, it 
would work more harm than good to his immature 
nervous system. 

His actions are not well coordinated. He is impul- 
sive and restless. Imitation and suggestion play a very 
large part in his life. We have seen that the higher 



THE CHILD ENTERING SCHOOL 145 

mental powers do not become evident until the age of 
eleven or twelve. The child can memorize well and 
easily, and it is probably a good time for this kind of 
work. He learns language by imitation, but has no use 
for rules of grammar. He can acquire arithmetical 
methods, but finds the explanations offered by book or 
teacher exceedingly difficult or quite incomprehensible. 
He sees concrete illustrations of many great laws. He 
is amassing stores of experience. He thinks much and 
about many things, but thinks as a child. He is gather- 
ing the material out of which he will later frame the 
ideal, plan, and structure of his life and work. But the 
material wiU take form and life after adolescence. 
Here again, as in his physical life, the caterpillar is 
storing up material against the time of metamorphosis. 

The life of the old New England farm was probably 
by far the best education for this epoch. " The child 
grew and waxed strong." He was busied, but not over- 
taxed. He found plenty of daily tasks suited to his 
strength and intelligence, which tested his ingenuity, 
and trained him to take the initiative. He grew up 
largely out of doors, surrounded by natural objects 
which continually stirred his curiosity. Even the 
monotony of life trained him to form habits of patience, 
industry, care, and of accepting responsibility as he 
could bear it. No modern system of education can hope 
or should be expected to accomplish all the good things 
which under such training seemed to come as a matter 
of course. We must make good these losses as far as 
we can, and be grateful for the compensations of modern 
life. 

The child is better off at school than at home. But 
he needs a peculiar school, course of study, and methods 



146 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

of training and instruction. Let us not forget that in 
assigning work our question should always be, What 
and how much will best promote growth? not, How 
much can he endure ? We wish to find the kind and 
amount of work which will furnish the best and most 
profitable exercise for those centres in the brain which 
most crave and need it. 

Unfortunately the higher centres of logical thought 
and inference are not yet mature enough to demand 
exercise. The lack of mental interests is the great 
source of difficulty at this period. We often attempt to 
impose adult or adolescent interests upon the young 
child. We fail, and his last state is worse than his first. 
He loses what little interest he ever had, and is fortun- 
ate if he does not contract an aversion to the subject 
and to study in general. The old Greek philosopher 
said that a child should not learn to read until he is 
ten years old. Many superintendents say that children 
in the lower grades mark time, making little real pro- 
gress. If there are no special interests, teachers and 
superintendents are not to be blamed if they frankly 
confess that they cannot find them. 

Professor Donaldson says that at this age the courso 
of study should be in the nature of a reconnoissance. 
Make the exercise general, stimulating all the areas 
and powers of the brain successively. It would seem 
to be a time for much variety of work rather than for a 
close correlation which quickly fatigues. Method seems 
more important than subject at this age. 

But is it not possible that we have been seeking the 
chief end of education at this epoch in the wrong direc- 
tion? What the child learns from books by application 
and mental effort is the smallest part of his acquisitions. 



THE CHILD ENTERING SCHOOL 147 

He IS now absorbing subconsciously and without mucli 
logical thought. He learns through imitation and sug- 
gestion without knowing that he has learned. He has 
learned to talk by imitating his elders. He acquires at 
the same time their peculiarities, of dialect, idiom, pro- 
nunciation, and inflection. These subconscious acquisi- 
tions crystallize in habits of speech. In later life he 
becomes conscious that some of them are bad. He 
avoids the unfortunate idiom, and is on his guard 
against it. But in careless moments, when he has re- 
laxed his vigilance, he will surely use it. It has become 
a part of his real self. The child imitates the gait and 
manners and almost any striking peculiarity of teacher 
or parent with like results. Not only habits of speech 
and action, but preferences and aversions, prejudices 
and superstitions, aesthetic and moral standards, even 
religious tendencies, arise, grow, and take form, as the 
result of surrounding conditions, he knows not how. 
But these habits of speech, action, and thought soon 
become fixed and unchangeable, and fashion his whole 
life. Many or most of the family peculiarities of habit, 
action, and thought, which we usually regard as in- 
herited, are reaUy the result of the constantly repeated 
impressions of early environment. These impressions 
are deep and lasting, and often consciously remembered 
in old age, when all else has been forgotten. 

Our brethren of the Roman Catholic Church can 
teach us a valuable lesson on this subject. They have 
clearly recognized the importance of a right atmosphere 
in education at this epoch. If I am not mistaken, what 
they value most in the parochial school is not so much 
the daily lesson or the imparting of information, as the 
religious atmosphere, the habits of reverence and obe- 



148 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

dience, the moulding and fashioning of the young life. 
With a wisdom born of ages of experience, they recog- 
nize that the lesson may be misunderstood or forgotten, 
but that the habit will be permanent. 

Many habits which the child does not readily acquire 
of himself may be developed and fostered by the pa- 
tience and perseverance of parent and teacher. Habits 
of neatness and punctuality, of self-control and courtesy, 
of truthfulness and reverence, and of a host of other 
virtues, may thus become thoroughly established. They 
are far more easily acquired now than at any later 
time. The child expects this sort of training. He lives 
under an Old Testament dispensation of laws, rites, and 
ceremonies. He expects that punishment will follow 
disobedience. When he is held kindly and firmly to 
a suitable discipline, he is receiving his first and best 
lessons in habits of morality which are of far greater 
importance than precepts or explanations. Without this 
previous training the religious development at adoles- 
cence will be feeble, abnormal, and defective. He is 
gaining at the same time through his affections an 
education of the heart which is above all price. 

We do not sufficiently emphasize the importance of 
the development of right feelings and emotions. These 
stand very close to and sway the will. My earnestness 
and vigor of action depends upon how much I care for 
certain persons and causes even more than upon how 
much I know about them. I may know much, and care 
little, and hence do nothing. " With the heart man 
believeth unto righteousness," even more than with the 
intellect ; and " out of the heart are the issues of life." 
Greatheart conquers Giant Despair and kills him, when 
Swelled Head is utterly defeated. President Hall has 



THE CHILD ENTERING SCHOOL 149 

well said that tlie education of the twentieth century 
will develop the heart as well as the intellect. 

The tired teacher in her room in the evening reviews 
the work of the day. Tommy has been a little more 
amenable and industrious, and a little less outrageous. 
And Gladys has been somewhat more attentive and 
truthful. But language was poor and numbers were 
bad. If the Commonwealth could speak to that teacher, 
would it not say : " I care infinitely more for Tommy's 
habits, and Gladys's thoughts and behavior than I do 
for aU the language and numbers in the world, import- 
ant as these may be. You are laying the foundations 
of loyal and law-abiding citizenship." 

The mother, with her monotonous daily round of 
cares and tasks, wishes that she could give more time 
to instructing her children. She forgets that her indus- 
try, fidelity, cheerfulness, hope, courage, faith, reverence, 
calmness, kindliness, and courtesy, are all reproducing 
themselves in the minds of her children. This is edu- 
cation for health, vigor, power, and efficiency, not merely 
for learning. It builds up instead of puffing up. The 
child left to nurses acquires the virtues of a faithful 
servant or the vices of a hireling. 

The color-sergeant in Kipling's 'Eathen has the 
essential characteristics of a great teacher. When his 
men enter the battle, they do not remember much of 
all his teachings. But without them they could never 
have been held in line during the weary hours of wait- 
ing and suffering, or lifted through the charge that 
wins the day. The work of the mother and of the 
teacher in the lower grades is very similar. 

Thus this period of formation of habits, which seems 
at first uninteresting and unimportant, proves to be the 



150 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

time of widest and grandest opportunity. It would be 
hard to decide wlietlier tlie education of the young child 
or of the adolescent demands the better teacher. The 
earlier grade probably requires even greater skill and 
wisdom than the latter. Because the work and personal 
influence of the primary teacher is less clearly remem- 
bered or may be entirely forgotten, we may sometimes 
be tempted to think that her share in the development 
of mind, heart, and character is smaller. The pupil for- 
gets who has influenced and moulded him just because 
the results of her training have become so completely a 
part of himself that he easily considers them a part of 
his hereditary endowment. This is the highest possible 
testimonial to the value and efficiency of her training. 

For similar reasons the story has great power and 
value during this epoch. It is perhaps the best means 
of leading the child's feeHngs, hopes, and desires into 
right channels. Says Miss Bryant in " How to Tell 
Stories to Children": "A story is a work of art. 
The story-teller who has given the listening children 
such pleasure as I mean may or may not have added 
a fact to the content of their minds ; she has inevitably 
added something to the vital powers of their souls. 
She has given a wholesome exercise to the emotional 
muscles of the spirit, has opened up new windows to 
the imagination, and added some line or color to the 
ideal of life and art which is always taking form in 
the heart of a child. She has in short accomplished the 
one great aim of story-telling — to enlarge and enrich 
the child's spiritual experience, and stimulate healthy 
reaction upon it." 

During this epoch the end, aim, and method of 
education is one and the same in the home and in the 



THE CHILD ENTERING SCHOOL 151 

school. The wisest and most efficient teacher can ac- 
complish little, if not supported by the conversation 
and atmosphere of the home. If this is materialistic, 
trivial, or vulgar, aU the schools and colleges in the 
land cannot save the child from philistinism and vul- 
garity, immorality, or unmorality. If the home atmo- 
sphere be one of courtesy and kindliness, justice and 
honesty, of reverence for God and man, of high thought 
and feeling and aims, we may look forward to the 
future with all confidence and hope. Here, at least, 
parent and teacher may and must find no difficulty in 
working together. The primary grade should be a sort 
of home-extension movement. 

Evidently during an epoch like this we should lengthen 
the recesses, multiply pauses between the class exer- 
cises, and allow frequent rest and change of position. 
The great importance of singing has been generally re- 
cognized. Marches and simple dances may be very use- 
ful. It is an excellent time for observation and nature- 
study. But after all possible mitigations of confinement, 
much remains to be done. Schmid-Monnard noticed 
that German children during the first year of school 
life lagged in growth or even lost weight. He tells us 
that children sent too young to school are graduated 
with little credit or drop out by the way. This is espe- 
cially noticeable in precocious children with frail bodies 
or weak nervou-s endowment. The heavy muscles tingle 
for exercise, the mental powers are small and very im- 
mature. Did Nature ever intend that school-room, desk, 
and book, should play so large a part in the child's life 
as they do under our present system ? Was it so in old 
times on the farm ? Growth is still the chief business 
of the child, and development of the sense-organs and 



152 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

of the heavier muscles is almost or quite as important. 
The mental powers can wait for their exercise, but those 
of the muscle must be realized and utilized soon, if at 
all. If there is any truth in our argument that the 
muscle is the strategic centre of development of all the 
vital powers and even of the brain itself, muscular and 
physical training is far more important than mental. 
We leave the subject here to return to it again in the 
chapters on physical training, and especially in the dis- 
cussion of the Value of Play in Education. 

We naturally ask : Is there any explanation of the 
peculiarities of this epoch, its small amount of mental 
gain, its sudden rise of morbidity in spite of the declin- 
ing death-rate ? President Hall ^ says : " The years from 
about eight to twelve constitute an unique period 
of human life. Everything suggests the culmination of 
one stage of life, as if it thus represented what was 
once, and for a very protracted and relatively stationary 
period, the age of maturity in some remote, perhaps 
pygmoid, stage of human evolution." 

The arboreal life of our lemuroid and anthropoid 
ancestors lasted long. In climbing forms the trunk 
remains long and the legs short, as in still more primi- 
tive quadrupedal ancestors. The arms are long and 
used for locomotion. When the anthropoid ancestor of 
man descended from the trees and walked upon the 
ground, the legs lengthened and strengthened to give 
a longer and firmer stride. One of the most marked 
differences between man and all the anthropoid apes is 
his far greater length of leg and his relatively shorter 
trunk and arms. 

^ Hall, Adolescence, p. ix. 



THE CHILD ENTERING SCHOOL 153 

Ranke tells us that tlie length of the free leg in the 
male gorilla measures only sixty-nine per cent of the 
length of the trunk ; in the chimpanzee and orang about 
seventy-eight per cent ; in man 134.6 per cent. In the 
gorilla the length of the trunk is fifty units, that of the 
free leg only about thirty-five. In the human being the 
trunk measures a little over thirty-six units, and the free 
portion of the legs about forty-nine. By a unit we mean 
in each case one per cent of the total height. The two 
portions of the body are about as fifty to thirty-five in 
length. In the human being the larger portion is in the 
legs, in the gorilla in the trunk. 

A similar, though perhaps somewhat smaller, change in 
proportions has apparently gradually taken place in the 
evolution of man. The trunk contains the vital organs 
which must furnish the income of food, fuel, and oxygen, 
and remove the waste of the body. The longer and stronger 
leg requires far more energy to use it properly and 
effectively. But while the leg lengthens, the trunk 
shortens ; and thus its capacity decreases. This seri- 
ously effects the metaboKsm of the body. Even now the 
men and women of greatest endurance are those with 
long trunk and short legs, who have departed slightly 
less than the majority from the primitive form. Similar 
slightly more primitive proportions seem to characterize 
the Asiatic races to-day. 

The early development of the child goes on as if to 
produce just such a body as we find in the anthropoid. 
The long trunk and short legs are very marked in 
infancy. During early childhood the development of the 
legs is rapid, but hardly too rapid to compensate for 
the arrest of development of the rear portion of the 
body during prenatal life. Then, probably about the 



154 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

age when our arboreal ancestor was approaching ma- 
turity (between seven and nine ?) , the rapid growth of the 
legs is at present far from complete. Sexual maturity 
is deferred until the growth of the legs is nearer com- 
pletion. But for a time the legs must outgrow the 
trunk, so to speak. Expenses threaten to exceed income. 
There must be a readjustment and increase of trunk 
length to meet the new demands. But this readjustment 
is not made until the age of fourteen or later, when the 
trunk begins to increase as fast as the legs. Between 
eight and thirteen inclusive in the boy, and a little 
earlier in the girl, there is a time when the growth of 
the legs has disturbed the economy of the growth of the 
body. The disturbance is usually not great enough to 
affect life. The death-rate continues to decline. But it 
produces temporary weakness, and a tendency to various 
disorders. Hence morbidity rises until increase of girths 
and of trunk length, at fourteen and sixteen in the boy, 
restores the proper balance. The increase in height 
strains especially the small and weak heart, which, for 
aught we know, may have been adjusted to a horizontal 
body. For not a few defective adjustments to the 
upright position still persist in man. Hence forms of 
heart-weakness or inefficiency often accompany rapid 
growth in height. But this is only one of the elements 
of weakness in the boy between the ages of eight and 
thirteen, in the girl a year or two earlier. 

Every readjustment affecting a large part of the 
body is expensive, and liable to be exhausting, and to 
leave little excess of material for growth. The new use 
of legs, arms, and especially of the hands, required the 
development of new centres in the brain. Time and 
place must be found for their development in the 



THE CHILD ENTERING SCHOOL 155 

life of the Individual child. Thus Nature has her hands 
more than full to meet the emergencies of this epoch. 
If, as we have reason to believe, the forearm centres 
in the brain are developing rapidly about eight, those of 
the fingers probable mature a year or two later. The 
development of the centres of thought and will must 
wait for the completion of the lower and essential por- 
tions. Hence the development of the highest and pecul- 
iarly human mental powers takes place mainly during 
adolescence. Then Nature, having more nearly regained 
the normal proportions of the body, and the proper bal- 
ance of income and expense, has time and material for 
her crowning work. 

Of course any such explanation is largely theoretical 
or hypothetical, but it seems to accord with and explain 
most of the facts of anthropoid and human structure 
and development. 



CHAPTEE XII 

THE GIRL AND THE BOY IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES 

Our study in this chapter includes somewhat more than 
the fourth triennium. The years which wiU occupy our 
attention are those between eleven and fourteen or fif- 
teen in the boy, and between nine and thirteen or four- 
teen in the girl. The epoch falls a year earlier or later 
than the average in certain localities and under certain 
conditions of life. But the girl is at this epoch at least 
one year more precocious than the boy. 

The weight of the boy at twelve is about thirty-five 
kilos (77 lbs.) ; at fifteen it is forty-eight kilos (107 
lbs.). The gain during the fourth triennium and the 
first half of the fifth is slow, about thirty per cent, but 
the marked acceleration in growth in weight during the 
last half raises the gain to forty per cent for the fifth 
epoch. At twelve the boy has somewhat more than one 
half, at fifteen three fourths of the adult weight. 

The girl is slightly heavier than the boy both at 
twelve and fifteen, for her acceleration in growth in 
weight comes a year or more earlier. Her gain for the 
fourth and fifth triennia is a little more than thirty- 
five per cent. She has at twelve two thirds, and at 
fifteen nine tenths, of her adult weight at twenty. 

The height of the boy at twelve is 140.7 centimeters 
(55 in.); at fifteen it is 159.8 centimeters (63 in.). The 
gain during the fourth triennium is about eleven per 
cent, during the fifth about fourteen per cent. He has 



IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES 157 

at twelve four fifths, and at fifteen nine tenths of the adult 
height. The girl at twelve is about two centimeters or 
nearly an inch taller than the boy ; at fifteen she is about 
three centimeters or a little more than an inch shorter. 
Her gain during the fourth epoch is about thirteen per 
cent, during the fifth a little less than ten per cent. She 
has attained at twelve almost nine tenths of her adult 
height, and at fifteen is practically full grown. Here, 
however, there is much individual and family variation. 
The boy at twelve has about twenty-five, and at fifteen 
a little over thirty, kilos weight for each meter height. 
Or at twelve he has 1.4 pounds weight per inch of 
height ; at fifteen 1.7 ; at nineteen about two. The relar 
tive weight is slightly greater in the girl. 

The strength of squeeze in the boy is at twelve about 
forty per cent of that at twenty, and at fifteen about 
sixty per cent. The ratios in the girl are much higher 
on account of her precocity and because of her much 
smaller adult strength. The growth of the internal 
organs is generally slow between nine and twelve, but 
quickens during the next epoch. The rate of meta- 
bolism is sinking toward the adult condition. During 
the fourth epoch the heart is still small and light, the 
arteries are large, and the blood-pressure is low. Heart, 
lungs, and muscular girths are increasing slowly. Their 
period of accelerated growth will begin about the four- 
teenth year in the boy and somewhat earlier in the girl. 
The death-rate is very low, but morbidity is rising to 
its first maximum about thirteen. At nine or ten there 
may be a slight improvement in morbidity. 

The tenth year in the girl and the eleventh in the 
boy are years of very slow growth in both weight and 
height. This retardation of growth may be hastened or 



158 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

postponed a year in different localities. The girl ia a 
full year more precocious than the boy, and her year ^^f 
minimum growth may fall at nine. The slackening ^i 
growth is usually less marked in her case. Her develop- 
ment is more crowded and hurried. Series of changes, 
which go on more nearly successively in the boy, are 
often telescoped, as it were, in her case. 

Nature economizes her material, husbands her re- 
sources, and, as Quetelet says, rallies her forces against 
the critical pubertal period which is close at hand. The 
period of rest and economy is followed by a period of 
very rapid increase in height, lasting three or four years 
in the girl, and a year or two longer in the boy. The 
term of rapid increase in weight and girth begins a 
year or more later than that of increase in height. The 
result is that for two or three years the child is lean 
and lank, and looks as if it had been violently stretched. 
It seems to be all legs and arms. 

All growth is expensive. Except during early in- 
fancy much material is consumed to add very little, 
and each additional pound costs more. But additions 
to the length of the limbs are especially expensive. The 
growth starts in the bones. These lengthen, and mus- 
cles, nerves, and arteries, must all be stretched and re- 
adjusted to the new conditions. The longer leg is a 
longer lever, fitted to give a longer stride and greater 
speed. As it lengthens, it requires more force to move 
and control it. But the addition to the length of the 
muscles has not increased their strength. For a time 
the new material may be a source of weakness, and 
sometimes of pain. The needed increase in girth follows 
later. The brain also must become accustomed to the. 
new conditions. The cerebellum, owing to the changes 



IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES 159 

in the length of the legs, and in the proportions of their 
parts, must change its habits and rhythms in discharging 
its impulses. Walking must be learned almost anew. 
This is no easy matter. The boy stumbles over his feet, 
and the girl is ungraceful. They are conscious of the 
fact, but cannot understand it. Neither of them knows 
what to do with hands and arms. It is a trying time. 

With all possible economy the expenses of the body 
are increasing in several ways. Growth is in itself an ex- 
pensive process, and demands the combustion of a large 
amount of material.^ The baby uses two or three times 
as much food and oxygen for each pound of weight, 
and produces as much more heat and waste, as the man 
engaged in moderate labor. Much of the food is con- 
sumed, and only a small part added to the weight. And 
the gain of each additional pound each successive month 
and year demands an increased amount of waste. The 
baby during the last half of the first month requires, 
according to Camerer, about twenty grams of milk for 
each gram's gain in weight. During the fourth and 
fifth months, it requires at least twice as much for the 
same gain. Between the middle and end of the first 
year the ratio doubles once more, and the baby is very 
economical. 

The body is increasing in three dimensions, but the 
strength of the muscles is proportional to the area of 
the cross-section, which increases in only two, and slowly 
at that. The weight to be carried is outgrowing the 
strength. This demands effort, and increase of expense 
out of proportion to the result. The surfaces of the 
internal organs of the body can hardly be keeping pace 
in their growth with the mass of the body, though of 

^ See Vierordt, Daten und Tabellen, p. 284. 



160 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

this we are not quite certain. Hence, relatively less 
food and oxygen are absorbed, and the waste is less 
rapidly and thoroughly removed. Finally the process 
of readjustment is always very expensive of material 
and of nervous energy. All these causes of increase of 
expense and of relative decrease of income would be 
true and effective, if the internal organs were gaining 
in size and weight as rapidly as the mass of the rest of 
the body. But this is not the case. 

The food and oxygen must be furnished, and the 
waste removed, by the organs in the trunk. The in- 
crease in the size of the trunk must be proportional to 
their growth. But we have seen that the chest-girth was 
fifty-four per cent of the standing-height at six, and now 
is hardly fifty per cent. Between six and twelve the dis- 
tance between hip and armpit is increasing only one 
half as fast as between three and six, or as during the 
latter half of the next epoch. The ratio of sitting- to 
standing-height is lower than during any other epoch, 
except for a time at the beginning of the next. If both 
girth and length of trunk are relatively low, the ca- 
pacity of the trunk must be small, and the efficiency 
of the internal organs more or less diminished. These 
ratios will improve at fourteen, and again at sixteen, in 
the boy, and a year or more earlier in the girl. But 
during this closing period of accelerated growth in legs 
and arms, the ratio of income to expenses, the relation 
between production and removal of waste, has been 
badly disturbed. 

Similar ratios in the adult would be symptoms of 
weakness, if not of disease. Great stature is usually 
due to great length of legs. Tall people usually have 
relatively short trunks. Dr. Baxter found the smallest 



IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES 161 

percentage of men unfit for military service among 
those one or more inches below the average height. 
The percentage was largest in the case of the tallest. 
We have seen that small men with long bodies and 
relatively short legs are usually considered to have the 
greatest endurance. A chest-girth less than one half of 
the standing-height is a discouraging sign. Small weight 
relative to stature is always unfavorable. Yet all these 
unfavorable signs characterize this period. They must 
characterize it, for the growth in the length of leg and 
arm has lasted long, and mast now be hastened to give 
place to other processes. 

Increase in height and greater length of leg generally 
characterizes the more favored classes. This may be due 
to better food and surroundings. In so far it is prob- 
ably a sign of better health. It may be one of the weak- 
nesses which come with higher civilization. Dr. Baxter's 
observations favor the second explanation. But this 
question remains open. The fact of their greater height 
remains, whatever be its cause. The greater growth of 
the legs enhances for them the difficulties and disad- 
vantages of this epoch. Hence we should not be sur- 
prised to find that this epoch was more likely to be 
one of weakness among the children of professional and 
business classes than among those of the laborers. 

We should not confuse an apparently normal, though 
marked, increase in height with those cases where, 
through disease or other causes, the increase of the 
length of the bones becomes pathological, as is some- 
times the case with poorly nourished individuals of 
weak inheritance. Here it is possible that another 
explanation may come nearer to the truth. In castrated 
individuals, whether men or animals, the legs are 



162 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

usually loDger than in the normal. It has been In- 
ferred that the maturing of the reproductive system 
puts an end to their growth. If through weakness, or 
any cause of such sterility, the reproductive system fails 
fully to mature, the increase in length of the bones may 
continue abnormally. There may well be a series of 
intermediate stages between such evidently pathological 
cases and those where luxury, idleness, weakness of con- 
stitution, or poverty and want among the poor, have 
hampered or prevented the full development of the 
reproductive organs. We are here brought face to 
face with a series of important and exceedingly difficult 
problems. 

A year of slow growth and the beginning of the ac- 
celeration of growth in height usher in the critical 
period of puberty. Now comes a metamorphosis almost 
as marked as the change of the caterpillar into the but- 
terfly. Every organ in the body is more or less modi- 
fied. The changes in the girl are probably more pro- 
found than in the boy. They occur earlier, before we 
expect them. They are accomplished in a briefer time, 
and hence are more hurried. Her pubertal period is 
more likely to be stormy, and her rate of morbidity is 
higher. 

Her future health and happiness, if not her life, de- 
pend upon the successful accomplishment of this meta- 
morphosis during the trying period of rapid increase in 
height. Slight injuries or defects, now easily remedied, 
may result in temporary or permanent weakness or 
invalidism, if neglected. 

We must not forget that she is now making her final 
preparations for Nature's second and most searching 
physical examination. Almost anything else except 



IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES 163 

readiness for this test can be postponed or even neg- 
lected without irremediable loss. But failure to meet 
Nature's requirements means ruin, and a low mark 
means lifelong disabilities, if not weariness and pain. 
The test will soon be applied once for all, and must be 
final. There is no appeal from the verdict, and no for- 
giveness for those who even ignorantly have sinned 
against Nature's laws. 

We have compared the changes at puberty to the 
metamorphosis of the butterfly. This is far more than 
a mere analogy. The changes are comparable, but in 
the butterfly they are written large. We can learn some 
valuable lessons from a caterpillar. During its larval 
stage its whole business is to store up material for its 
metamorphosis. If it fails in this, it dies ; or a sadly 
weak and defective butterfly emerges from the cocoon. 
Similarly in the child the years before ten furnish the 
golden opportunity to store up material and vitality 
against the lean years of puberty. If this opportunity 
be neglected or only half-used, it never returns. We 
should utilize it to the utmost. 

But much remains to be done after ten. The rapid 
growth, the readjustments, and the profound changes 
in all the organs involve much destruction of material 
and waste of tissue. If this waste is not removed, it 
poisons the blood, hampers all the functions, depresses 
the nervous system, and produces disinclination to ex- 
ercise or effort. Headache, loss of appetite, pallor, 
nervousness, and general weakness follow. In Sweden 
from the twelfth year the rate of morbidity did not fall 
below sixty per cent until the nineteenth in girls. In 
Denmark it was forty per cent or more. For the boy 
it was between thirty and forty per cent in both coun- 



164 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

tries. Schmid-Monnard has called attention to the fact 
that the greater amount of morbidity among girls at 
this epoch is due almost entirely to poverty of blood 
and to disorders which result directly from this. He 
tells us farther that this difference between the sexes 
is first noticeable at seven or eight. The deterioration 
begins much earlier than we suspect. The condition of 
the blood must be due to one or both of two causes, 
accumulation of waste material, or deterioration through 
loss of appetite or decrease of digestive and assimilative 
powers. The second condition is almost a necessary 
result of the first. 

It would be very strange if such a condition of the 
blood and whole organism should not be attended by 
decreased power of resistance to fatal diseases. These 
diseases may not culminate in death until years later. 
But it seems not at all improbable that this is the time 
when they gain entrance into and foothold in the 
system. When we read the last chapter of Havelock 
Ellis's "Man and Woman," we learn that the woman 
is really tougher and has more vitality than the man. 
We begin to wonder whether the same should not be 
true of the girl compared with the boy. 

Burg-erstein ^ tells us that in Sweden and Finland 
between 1755 and 1805 the mortality of males was 
greater than that of females, at all ages. Between 1816 
and 1855 exceptions to this rule begin to appear. Be- 
tween 1856 and 1870 mortality of females was greater 
in most of the pubertal years. Between 1871 and 1880 
the mortality of females was greater at all ages between 
twelve and sixteen. In Boston, according to Dr. Hart- 
well, between 1875 and 1890 the death-rate of girls was 

1 Burgerstein and Netolitzky, Handhuch der Schulhygiene, p. 506. 



IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES 165 

Mgher than that of boys at all ages from thirteen to 
eighteen inclusive, except in the seventeenth year. In 
Berlin the death-rate varies, being sometimes higher 
among the girls, sometimes among the boys. 

Consumption is a disease which gains a foothold when 
the body is weakened, and which is repulsed or driven 
out by open-air life, abundance of exercise, of nourish^ 
ing food and of sleep. We have already quoted Sir 
Crichton Brown concerning the prevalence of consump- 
tion among the more cultivated and highly educated 
young women of England. He tells us that after the 
age of thirty-five more men than women die of this dis- 
ease. Between twenty and thirty-five the numbers are 
almost equal. Between five and twenty far more girls 
than boys die from this cause, and that their death- 
rate between fifteen and twenty is three times as great 
as that of boys. What few figures I have been able to 
find are not really comparable to those of the English 
physician. They lead me to hope that the ratio in 
America is slightly more favorable. We can only hope 
that some of our physicians will furnish us an answer 
to these and other vital questions of preventive medi- 
cine. 

Miss Foster, in her summary of the results of a study 
of the physique of college women, says : "All the meas- 
ures which are determined in early life are good — the 
college girl had the favorable conditions of the ' leisure ' 
class. The legs, which get a certain amount of exercise 
inevitably, are good in bone-measure, but muscularly 
a little below par. The upper limb has been delayed in 
growth, and girth-measures of bone and muscle both 
are deficient. Why ? I think it is fair to say, because 

^ Hertelj Overpressure^ Introduction. See p. xxx. 



166 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

the brain has been developed at the expense of the body 
during the last years of school life." 

Our facts and figures are, perhaps, too few to demon- 
strate anything. But they furnish food for thought, and 
certainly lead to the suspicion, at least, that our modern 
civilization and education are bearing harder upon the 
girl than upon the boy. Even if the increase of disease 
and the higher death-rate is not due to conditions but 
to the constitution of the girl during this epoch, it is 
clear that every precaution should be taken to avoid 
crowding and harassing during this time of weakness. 

Let us return to undeniable facts. The great changes 
in the body have increased the amount of waste in the 
blood, and this waste must be rapidly and steadily re- 
moved by organs in an undersized trunk. It is a second 
fact that the waste will not be removed until it has been 
thoroughly oxidized by an abundant supply of air ab- 
sorbed by the blood at the lungs. Hence the great im- 
portance of a large lung capacity. Whether the average 
for the boy is as large as it should be and might be is 
very doubtful. It is certainly not excessive. 

The girl throughout this epoch is somewhat taller 
and heavier than the boy of the same age. She needs 
as much oxygen as he, or even more. The average girl 
at this period has for each pound of weight hardly more 
than three fourths of the vital capacity of the boy of 
the same age. But the woman between twenty and 
thirty has also about the same ratio. This in the case 
of the latter is due to her smaller waste and great 
economy of material. We do not yet know whether 
her small adult vital capacity is a natural characteristic, 
or in part, at least, a result of wrong conditions and 
habits of life. Most adult women lead a sedentary life* 



IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES 167 

and take far less muscular exercise than is for their 
good. Their health " flies out through the nerves " 
faster than it can "come in through the muscles." 

The best way to solve the question whether the girl 
during this period needs a larger vital capacity is to 
notice the result of moderate exercise at each age. As 
long as she responds promptly and markedly to simple 
exercises, we may be sure that it is needed and that 
the increase is entirely normal, natural, and beneficent. 

Dr. Anderson's measurements of vital capacity were 
taken from girls in a school in the city of New York 
where gymnastics formed a part of the daily course of 
work. We may well compare them with Hastings's 
figures for Nebraska school-girls. The New York girl 
at six had very small lungs, only four fifths as large as 
those of the Western girl of the same age. At seven 
and eight she hardly keeps pace with her Western sister. 
Play and life in the open air of the country can furnish 
adequate and suitable exercise during these years. But 
at nine and ten her percentile increase is more than 
twice as great. There is an acceleration at eleven in- 
stead of a retardation, as in Nebraska. At twelve and 
fourteen she has one third more lung capacity. Dr. 
Anderson's measurements stop at fifteen. We do not 
know whether the superiority was fully maintained in 
later years. But the girl responded to exercise promptly 
and most efficiently, and had the increased capacity 
during her years of greatest need. This one experiment 
has almost the value of a mathematical demonstration 
of the girl's needs and possibilities. 

There is a noticeable difference between the tables 
of lung capacity for boys and girls. In the boy we are 
very rarely disappointed in an accelerated increase at 



168 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

fourteen, then a year of comparative rest followed by a 
still more marked increase at sixteen. The accelerations 
may, of course, come a year earlier or later. But in the 
case of girls the figures are very irregular. We can 
find no special periods of acceleration and retardation 
which remain constant in different localities. This in 
itself arouses the suspicion that bad conditions are ham- 
pering her development far more than that of the boy. 
We may judge from Anderson's figures that her period 
of acceleration would probably come early, perhaps even 
at nine and eleven. But we must bear in mind the pre- 
cocity of the city girl, especially in the higher classes. 
Very possibly the acceleration would come a year or 
two later in the country population. 

Evidently the girl sadly needs the larger vital ca- 
pacity, and gains it when she has the opportunity for 
suitable exercise. Gilbert^ observed that dull pupils 
have a smaller lung capacity than bright ones at all 
ages during the pubertal period. He thinks that his 
measurements for other ages give only negative results. 
But when we notice the irregularities due to the small 
number of observations and make allowances for these, 
it would seem to be probably true of all ages. Increased 
vital capacity might prove beneficial to the mental as 
well as to the physical well-being of many weak and 
backward boys and girls at this time. 

The oxidization and removal of waste, as well as the 
increased vital capacity, is best attained by abundant 
and free open-air play, though where this is impossible, 
the gymnasium must make good the lack. Such exer- 
cise is essential to stimulate the healthy growth and 

^ Researches on Mental and Physical Development of School ChiU 
dren. 



IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES 169 

action of tlie heart and all the vital organs, and to 
maintain the appetite and assimilative powers. 

About this time the girl's brother joins a baseball 
nine, and she frequently ceases her outdoor games 
altogether. Sometimes she still plays a game of tag or 
some other running game, but is usually ashamed of 
these relics of childhood. She is very fortunate if she is 
not continually reminded by mother, teacher, or friend 
that running, jumping, and romping are more befitting 
to a tom-boy than to a young lady. A word to the in- 
experienced as well as to the wise is often sufficient. 
She gives up the play habit, and forgets the art, just 
when she needs them most. 

Miss Hill, of the Department of Physical Training 
at Wellesley College, once said : " The most helpless 
people I have ever seen have been college girls when 
I have first taken them into the gymnasium and told 
them to play. They seemed to have forgotten, or never 
to have truly learned." We hope that the college 
woman of to-day has improved in this respect, but there 
is every reason to fear that the girls in our grammar 
and high schools have not. The man or woman who 
would discover or invent an attractive game furnishing 
suitable and convenient exercise to girls of these grades 
would be one of the greatest public benefactors. 

Lack of oxygen and deterioration of the blood often 
disinclines the girl to the open air and exercise which 
she most needs. In many families her services out of 
school hours are needed to relieve the already over- 
burdened mother. Yet in these same families the boy 
is often excused from all care of his own room and is 
allowed to leave it in chaos for his sister to " put to 
rights " for him. This is a decidedly unfair division of 



170 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

labor. It is the lightest work which she can do list- 
lessly, and over which she can consume a large amount 
of time with little or no muscular effort, which does 
her the most harm. Of such work the boy should and 
could do his share. 

Life is dull and she craves diversion and amusement. 
The temptation is great still farther to exhaust eyes 
and brain by lolling on the sofa or over the furnace 
register and reading trashy novels. In the worst cases 
the disorders become so deeply rooted that it is almost 
or quite impossible to eradicate them. A longer or 
shorter period of invalidism, perhaps permanent weak- 
ness or death, at nineteen or twenty, is the natural 
result. 

The critical period in the girl's life is evidently be- 
tween ten and fifteen, earlier than most of us think. 
The time to begin to take precautions is several years 
earlier, at seven or eight. Most of our care and thought 
goes to " locking the stable door after the horse has 
been stolen." Everybody is intensely interested in the 
health of the young college woman. This is as it should 
be. Few seem to think that the health of the girl in 
the grammar grades demands any care or attention. 
There could hardly be a worse or more dangerous mis- 
take. 

It is not a period of immediate danger nor one of great 
essential and unavoidable weakness ; although it is one 
of diminished vigor, and requiring care, attention, and 
hygienic conditions. Open air, sunshine, good food and 
cheer, and abundant sleep are the best tonics. Suitable 
gymnastics are very useful or positively necessary. But, 
to be effective, they should occur more frequently than 
two half-hours each week. This is about as useful as 



IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES 171 

to prescribe two fair meals a week as a cure for lean- 
ness. Idleness is neither necessary nor beneficial. The 
higher mental powers are developing and craving exer- 
cise. The boy and girl are drawing inferences and 
making distinctions. A reasonable amount of school 
work will promote both mental and physical health 
and growth. But overpressure, confinement in hot, ill- 
ventilated rooms, long sitting without change of posture, 
needless fret and worry should be most carefully 
avoided. 

The girl is in the last years of the grammar school 
or in the first year of the high school. She is inter- 
ested in her work and ambitious. She may have inher- 
ited from her mother an old-fashioned New England 
conscience. She does not intend to be left behind in 
any social, literary, or other competition, into which she 
has entered spontaneously or otherwise. Yery possibly 
she is looking forward to that relic of barbarism, the 
examination for entrance to the high school. 

She may be preparing for college. The school has 
a reputation to sustain, and the public demands that 
it satisfy the requirements of the college for admission. 
Whether these requirements are reasonable or not, the 
docile public does not ask. Perhaps, like Gallio, it 
" cares for none of these things." The success of most 
of our high-school teachers is estimated and graded 
according to the entrance mark or the standing of the 
girl in her coUege studies. Some of them, both male 
and female, are exquisite products of the culture of our 
higher centres of learning. They revel in Latin pro- 
sody, or in higher mathematics. They can tithe the intel- 
lectual mint, anise, and cummin, with balances so fine 
that they turn under the shadow of a hair from the 



172 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

beard of tlie prophet or critic. They never studied 
physiology or hygiene, and consider such subjects as 
unworthy of their attention. Red blood is at a discount 
in their valuation. The care of the girl's health is not 
their business. 

But an overwhelming majority of our teachers ap- 
preciate the value of health and the need of mercy, and 
would gladly give the girl a chance, if the public would 
only allow them to do so. They are all well aware of 
one fact : that the parents who have criticised them 
most severely for crowding the girl will be the first to 
demand their discharge if she fails to pass her exam- 
inations for entrance to college. They are quite right 
in this thought. They all wish her to carry off honors 
in their own special departments. Every one demands 
all the time and effort she can secure. If the pupil is 
exceptionally bright and vigorous, she will endure the 
strain without evident injury. Whether it is too great 
for good and profit is quite another question. If she 
happens to have a year or two at this time when for 
lack of oxygen or for some other reason her brain re- 
fuses to do its utmost, she is conditioned in some study. 
The school rightly and mercifully refuses to allow her 
to carry an extra study the next year and thus to make 
it up. But the father and mother besiege the superin- 
tendent, and the girl is finally allowed to add it to the 
burden under which she is already struggling. 

The teachers in our women's colleges are learned, 
intelligent, very highly cultured, and ambitious. They 
have been eager to prove that the average woman has 
more intellectual ability than any man. This question 
any man of any experience will unhesitatingly and 
emphatically answer in the affirmative without the evi- 



IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES 173 

dence of a college diploma or degree of Pli.D. Every 
alumna is quick and proud to claim that her institution 
has a far higher standard of scholarship than any 
other. Easy admission in any study would be a dis- 
grace. The colleges are crowded, and teachers and 
alumnae fear that a slightly lower standard will attract 
to them the ill-prepared, inefficient, or incapable. News 
goes abroad that some college has raised the standard 
of admission in some subject; every other coUege ac- 
cepts the rumor, and follows the example. It is claimed 
that the requirements of our best women's colleges are 
fully equal to, or higher than, those of Harvard. Still 
they rise. How high will they be ten years hence? The 
college has no means of knowing how many fall by the 
way. These in no way affect it. The standard is main- 
tained, and that is the great desideratum. 

The pressure extends farther back in the course than 
some of us have suspected. Latin is usually begun in 
the first year of the high school, or sometimes in the 
grammar grade. Physical training can wait ; but Latin 
must be begun early, and the foundations must be 
deeply and thoroughly laid. The high-school years are 
already full to overflowing. There is a widespread 
opinion that the first year in the high school is the 
hardest in the whole course. It certainly is anything 
but easy. Furthermore, work which was formerly done 
in the high school must now be done earlier, and the 
steadily increasing pressure crowds farther and farther 
back into the lower grades. The study must be pur- 
sued, not when it is most profitable, but as early as 
possible in order that its completion may make room 
for something else. The pressure affects not only the 
girl who is fitting for coUege, but all her associates. In 



174 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

our smaller schools separate courses and classes cannot 
be provided for those going to college. All must move 
on together in lock-step. 

About this time the parents usually awaken to the 
fact or hypothesis that the girl has great talents for 
music, drawing, or painting. They add a few or a good 
many hours to the week's work. There is little or no 
time left for outdoor exercise or play. The girl begins 
to look pale and tired. She evidently needs rest and 
recreation. Therefore she is allowed or encouraged to 
go to parties or dances lasting into the wee small hours. 
It is an excellent method of girl homicide, not always as 
painless in the end as it looks. 

The average American woman ought to be unusually 
healthy. The toughest, sturdiest, and strongest of the 
European populations were sifted out to plant America. 
We can live for some generations on the store of vital- 
ity bequeathed by our ancestors. We are certainly 
drawing very freely on our heritage, if we are not actu- 
ally squandering it. We can exhaust it. Says Dr. 
Engelmann in a most careful and painstaking discussion 
of this subject: " We must admit that the condition of 
the American girl is not what it should be under the 
unusually favorable conditions of her life, or which is 
justly hers by the splendid heritage of health to which 
she is entitled. The younger the girl, the nearer the 
period of puberty, the more impressionable the system, 
the more susceptible to influences for good or evil ; and 
most harm is wrought in the first year of functional 
life. The majority of those who, after the high-school 
period, enter upon physical work, date their suffering 
to the fourteenth year, that is, during school life." * 
1 " The American Girl of To-day," Am. Phys. Ed. Bev. 1901. 



IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES 175 

It is important that the pubertal metamorphosis 
should be postponed as long as possible. The devel- 
opment of the girl is too crowded. Anything which 
hastens its coming should be carefully avoided. It comes 
earlier in the city than in the country, about a year 
earlier in girls of high schools, normal schools, and those 
fitting for college, than in the laboring classes. Hence 
all that tends to nervous strain or excitement should be 
as far as possible avoided or mitigated before as well as 
during this epoch. 

Our system of education has been framed by adults 
for adults. Our school boards have mostly forgotten, if 
they ever knew, that puberty is a period requiring care, 
attention, and some mercy. The influence of the entrance 
requirements for college has been often unfortunate in 
the case of both boys and girls. The teacher is fre- 
quently prevented from showing the leniency which she 
would gladly exercise. She is frequently crowded by a 
public proud of the defects of its school system, to say 
nothing of boards of examination and of certificates, etc., 
etc. 

We need teachers with clear and watchful eyes, who 
can lighten worry, fret, and weariness; and can see 
when leniency is needed and when firmness is kindness ; 
who know when not to notice a bad error or recitation, 
or even day's work ; who can pass over or advise a day's 
absence from school now and then. Enough knowledge 
of physiology to enable her to persuade the girl that wet 
feet or damp skirts are very dangerous at this period, 
wiU certainly do her no harm. We need wise and 
sympathetic teachers ; but we need equally or more a 
public sufficiently educated to appreciate and support 
them in their efforts. At present we are more likely to 



176 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

blame them for that which they cannot and we will not 
change. 

At all cost the school should provide for play, exer- 
cise, and recreation. The single session lasting contin- 
uously too many hours and postponing, if not destroying, 
the midday meal, is anything but hygienic. The recesses 
should be lengthened, and pauses for rest and change 
of position should be allowed between class exercises. 
More place must be found for all forms of physical 
training. In some way the blood must be drawn from 
the brain to the muscles, the life-savers and accumulators 
of health and strength for the body. 

But puberty demands care and hygienic treatment 
in the home even more, if possible, than in the school. 
Here the responsibility rests mainly upon the mother, 
though the father might well spare a moment or two 
from the more important pursuit of wealth and reputa- 
tion to give a thought to the health of his children. 

Until the menses are thoroughly established, and 
occur with regularity, the girl should have almost com- 
plete rest whenever they occur. Possibilities of chill 
through damp feet or skirts, or exposure to cold, should 
be carefully avoided. The girl should be kept cheer- 
ful, and all fear of or shame at this natural process 
should be removed. This is a time when the " ounce of 
prevention is worth more than a pound of cure." Here, 
too, especially the wise mother will seek the advice of 
the experienced physician before it is necessary rather 
than afterward. 

Throughout puberty mental hygiene is as important 
as physical. The nervous system shares the weakened 
condition of the whole body. It is liable to be disturbed 
by any disorder of function. The strain of accommoda- 



IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES 177 

tion to new conditions, of arranging a new distribution 
of nutriment in the body, of receiving and controlling 
a host of new impulses from within and from without, 
falls heavily upon it. Every period of transition is one 
of greater or less nervous instability. This nervous 
instability, amounting often to irritability, frequently 
manifesting itself in stuttering, sometimes in hysteria, 
is very evident at this great transition. " Sweet reason- 
ableness" cannot always be expected. 

Hence cheerful surroundings at home and abroad are 
of the greatest possible benefit. A bright young girl 
once said : " I am well enough, if people do not ask 
me about it." The attention should be kept on bright 
subjects of thought, not on symptoms of weakness. It 
is not the best time for self-examination or for cultiva- 
tion of the conscience. A nervous, nagging mother and 
an irritable father, precisely those whose children are 
most likely to show signs of nervous weakness at this 
period, can work great and irremediable mischief. They 
would best send the girl to a calm, cheery grandmother 
or to the right school. 

Cheerful parents and friends who know the beauty 
of God and His world, who see and dwell in the bright 
side of life, who are watchful without showing it, and 
hopeful at all times, are the best possible tonics for the 
nervous system and the whole body, as well as soul. 

What has been said of the girl applies to the boy to 
a somewhat less extent. Puberty begins a year later 
with him. The year of retardation usually falls at 
eleven. The period lasts two years longer. It is thus 
less crowded and hurried. The changes are slower and 
more gradual, and hence there is less morbidity. He is 
usually blessed with more obtuse nerves, and great per- 



178 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

severance in the avoidance of overwork. He will generally 
manage to have his outdoor sports, whatever happens. 
Hence he maintains a larger lung capacity, and suffers 
far less from anaemia and its consequences. But there 
are far too many exceptions to this rule. There are the 
shy, the sedentary, the studious, boys. There are boys of 
delicate constitution and of hereditary weakness. There 
are many boys who are more or less weak nervously, 
especially during this period. All these need care and 
attention. In all cases it is the critical period of least 
vigor. Let us not grudge even the strongest their 
freedom and sports. Let us not neglect their physical 
training. There is no danger that they will amass more 
health and vigor than they will need in adult life. The 
boy has his tests and ordeals to face. His death-rate at 
nineteen and twenty is higher than that of the girl. 
Watchfulness, care, and a grain of mercy will help him 
as really as the girl. Both need help and sympathy. 



CHAPTEE XIII 

THE BOY AND THE GIRL IN THE HIGH SCHOOL 

During tlie last years of the high-school course we 
are dealing with adolescents. The characteristics of 
this period appear more clearly when the youth is sent 
away from home to enjoy the greater freedom of the 
academy, or at a slightly later age in early college life. 
But signs of their coming are already plain, and we 
may well consider the years for which the high-school 
course is preparing, and to which it furnishes the trans- 
ition. In this chapter we shall consider the boy espe- 
cially. But most of what is true of him will probably 
apply fairly well to the girl also. 

The girl at sixteen has usually attained her full 
height, and practically her adult weight; although 
weight in both sexes should increase slowly until into 
adult life. The boy has somewhat still to gain in both 
respects. The lungs of the boy have increased in capac- 
ity very markedly at fourteen and sixteen. In the girl 
the increase is less marked and regular. In both sexes 
the heart, which was small before and during early 
puberty, has gained greatly in capacity. Its increase 
during these years may amount to one hundred cubic 
centimeters, or even more, a gain of sixty per cent. 
In the boy the increase is usually somewhat slow and 
gradual, in the girl it occupies a shorter period, some- 
times only two or three years. But sometimes the in- 



180 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

crease is delayed for one or more years. In this increase 
much new material is necessarily added to the walls of 
the heart, which require a considerably longer time to 
attain the strength and endurance of full maturity. The 
arteries have expanded less than the heart, hence the 
blood-pressure has risen. The higher pressure and bet- 
ter oxidization of the blood lead to a rapid combustion 
in the muscles, and especially in the brain ; all the more 
as the waste products of growth and readjustment are 
not poured into the blood in nearly as large quantities 
as during puberty. The machine should now be in 
" smooth working order." 

The brain has attained practically its full size and 
weight. The later additions are mainly in the associa- 
tion areas, where a few more grams of substance, de- 
veloped just where it is most efficient, may add vastly 
to the mental power. The sensory and motor areas are 
fully matured. Improvement is now to be expected 
mainly in quickness and precision of movement, and in 
complexity of action of the finer muscles of wrist, hand, 
and fingers. 

The higher mental areas are in a stage when a goodly 
amount of exercise will do them no harm. The logical 
powers are increasing fast. They crave exercise, and 
the boy often argues quite as much from the love of 
debate as from the desire to attain truth. It is doubt- 
ful whether the memory is either as quick or retentive 
as during earlier years. Mortality is still low, but is 
gradually rising. Morbidity should decrease, and usu- 
ally does so in the boy for a year or two. In the girl 
it frequently remains high continually until after cessa- 
tion of growth, when it reaches its second maximum in 
both sexes. 



IN THE HIGH SCHOOL 181 

It is difficult to decide just how mucli of the disorder 
at this second maximum is avoidable. Growth after 
fourteen or fifteen in the boy, and from an earlier age 
in the girl, tends more and more to increase of girth. 
It is more in the trunk, and less and less in the length 
of legs and arms. It is less disturbing, and adds more 
to the size of the vital organs. The body is returning 
toward the healthy proportions of childhood. It cer- 
tainly seems as if the high rates of morbidity at seven- 
teen or later in the statistics of the schools of Sweden 
and Denmark should be lowered. But at best the last 
years of academy and high school and the first year of 
college life are likely to be years of much morbidity. 
The health of pupils during these years will always 
require attention. After this time morbidity ought to 
show a rapid decline. We may feel sure also that pro- 
per care and exercise during the early years of the high- 
school course would delay and mitigate its rise and 
hasten its fall. 

Vigorous physical exercise is still needed, and can 
do only good. The muscles are ready for their final 
training. Play is not enough. Gymnastics are needed 
for the development of the finer muscles and the higher 
motor centres, and for the correction of faults and de- 
fects which have outlasted or come with puberty. Their 
hygienic value also ought not to be underestimated. 
Still we must fortify and strengthen the youth against 
the diseases which cause the rise of death-rate at nine- 
teen and later. Nature's second examination has not 
yet been passed. 

Athletics are exceedingly useful. The boy should be 
allowed and encouraged to test his strength against that 
of his fellows. They should be arranged and controlled 



182 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

so as to engage those who most need them as well as 
the few strongest who need them least. We must re- 
member also that the heart is still weak and easily 
strained. Century runs with the bicycle and long halves 
at football should be carefully avoided. Precocity 
of prowess or distinction in athletics is likely to re- 
sult in staleness or weakness in later life. We should 
not forget this fact which was discovered and men- 
tioned by Aristotle of the contestants in the Greek 
games. 

The boy and girl feel the rising tides of strength and 
vigor, and imagine that they have even more strength 
and endurance than the adult. But they are still far 
from the toughness of later years, when the tissues have 
gradually matured and hardened. Every commander of 
an army has recognized the high rates of sickness and 
death among young recruits during hard campaigns, 
especially in unhealthy and severe foreign climates. 
Now the hard bed with light coverings in the cool or 
cold room, and the cold bath followed by a few mo- 
ments of vigorous exercise and hard rubbing will help 
the toughening process in the healthy boy. A less 
severe but similar regimen would remove the hot-house 
delicacy of some of our girls. But the hardening pro- 
cess should be most carefully and watchfully managed 
in those who need it most, and the advice of a wise 
physician may be invaluable in many cases. The dan- 
ger from overpressure in study is probably not so great 
as in lower grades. The same laws of growth and de- 
velopment still apply. The athletic brain, like athletic 
muscles, is best attained by frequent periods of vigor- 
ous exercise alternating with those of rest. Still the 
girl should be allowed to change her position, and call 



IN THE HIGH SCHOOL 183 

the blood from the loaded brain to the cold hands and 
feet. Both boy and girl wiU study better for filling 
their lungs with cool fresh air every hour or so. 

The greatest danger is from too much and too in- 
tense social life. Excitement is always fatiguing, if not 
exhausting, to the young. The late hours and loss of 
sleep rob the body of strength even faster than severe 
study. Whether the last years of the high-school course 
are too crowded for the best and most healthy mental 
development of our boys and girls is a quite different 
question. This can be answered only by experienced 
observers. 

The attainment of full growth and of large muscular 
power, the large heart and lungs, the well oxygenated 
blood driven at high pressure, the activity and young 
vitality of all the tissues and organs, give buoyancy 
and courage, a sense of power and a longing for entire 
freedom, a revolt against control. A new world has 
opened before the boy as fresh and fair as on the 
morning of creation. The joy of mere living dawns 
upon him. He looks out upon a fair new life bound- 
less in opportunity and endless in scope and time. 
He sees parents and teachers plodding in a humdrum 
round. He hears their criticisms or complaints. He 
is sure that they cannot understand him, and that 
they know very little of the glories of life and of this 
exceedingly good world. He is right to a certain extent. 
Young adults usually have the poorest opinion of life 
and the world. They furnish the reformers and the 
pessimists. This is perhaps unavoidable, possibly use- 
ful. But when with the boy we must overflow with 
hope and courage. 

He will gird his loins and go whither he will. He 



184 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

must taste of every experience for Mmself , and Is will- 
ing to meet both joy and sorrow witli " frolic welcome." 
He would eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, 
though it should cost him paradise., He has not yet 
been saddened by experience or disillusioned by failure 
and disappointment. 

Nature is now loosing her leading-strings. She is 
setting him free to complete his peculiar individual de- 
velopment, and to forge his own character. We cannot 
stop him if we would, we should not if we could. In 
old times the adolescent ran away to sea, now we send 
him to school and college. Here, beyond the reach of 
well-meaning neighbors and friends, he tries the ex- 
periment of life ; makes his blunders ; experiences suc- 
cess and failure, joy and sorrow ; finds himself, his 
strength and weakness ; and grows into a man. 

Authority has only a superficial hold upon him, 
tradition far less. Only the influences of home-training, 
which have rooted themselves deep in his subconscious 
life, are still powerful. He has not yet gained self- 
knowledge or self-control. Much of the child stiU lingers 
in him. Impulses well up from every change in his phys- 
ical constitution or condition ; he knows not whence they 
come or how to meet them. He does not know his real 
strength, much less his weakness. He is very loyal to 
his associates, as is shown by his group games, his class 
or society feeling, and his school or college spirit. He 
cannot stand alone. Individual judgment and con- 
science are developing very slowly. To understand him 
and his actions under certain conditions you must have 
studied the psychology of the mob. Instability often 
seems to be his most marked characteristic. 

He is a mixture of contradictions, an enigma to him- 



IN THE HIGH SCHOOL 185 

self and to us. He might well say : " My name is Le- 
gion, for we are many." In the ferment of young life 
all that is trifling and worthless comes to the surface, 
the strong and sweet lie beneath the froth. We may 
very easily do him injustice. If we cannot understand 
him and sympathize with him, if we have totally forgot- 
ten our own experiments and blunders, we should send 
him to those who can do so or leave him to Nature. 
Forty years ago the Union was saved by an army of 
boys. 

His conceptions of the meaning and value of time 
are hardly clearer than those of a child. He cannot 
play a waiting game. If the sun shines to-day, it will 
always remain cloudless; if the maid of his adoration 
has frowned, she wiU never smile again. He lives on 
the Delectable Mountains or in the depths of the Val- 
ley of Humiliation, more frequently in the latter region 
than we suspect. He betrays all his conceit, and can- 
not help it ; his humiliation over his blunders, failures, 
and sins, he keeps to himself. Nature puts a shell 
around the chicken embryo to keep out intruders dur- 
ing the period of embryonic development. She puts 
a similar shell around the boy during this epoch in his 
development. He becomes reticent. He will not and 
cannot share his thoughts with us ; that confidence is 
reserved for friends of his own age. It is on the whole 
best that it should be so to a large extent. Our clumsy 
fingers might spoil the process. He must fight his own 
battles. We must respect his reticence. 

Let us look a little deeper. The boy is loyal to his 
friends, often generous to a fault. It is the epoch of 
the reign, not of cold judgment, but of feeling and 
of the heart, " out of which are the issues of life." Paul 



186 GE-OWTH AND EDUCATION 

places love, with faith and hope, far above knowledge ; 
which " vanisheth away, for we know in part." Per- 
haps Paul was right, after all. The heart is often fuUy 
as wise as the head. Feelings are racial, the results of 
generations or ages of natural selection and survival 
of the fittest, while opinions are individual and but of 
a day. Do not undervalue or curb too closely his gener- 
ous impulses. The world will teach him selfishness fast 
enough. 

He has a strange and crude system of ethics, appar- 
ently a survival of some remote period of barbarous 
life. But he is usually true to it. Make the most of 
all the good there is in it, and the imperfect and un- 
couth wiU in time be outgrown and disappear. Deal 
honestly and squarely with him, and the harder you 
apply curb or spur the better he will like you in the 
end. But "be strong and of good courage"; it is not 
a time for half measures. He is searching for a leader, 
and usually, like St. Christopher, he will follow the 
strongest. But even this crude desire will in time lead 
him to his king. 

Tides of religious thought and tendency sweep through 
his soul. The first may have come at twelve or even 
earlier, and is often weak and sometimes seems to pass 
without permanent effect. A second frequently follows 
at fourteen, stronger but largely emotional. The wave 
at sixteen or somewhat later moves feeling, intellect, 
and wiU. Or his religious growth and development may 
be slow, gradual, and steady, with no marked crises. 
We must take advantage of the tides, and be watchful 
after every ebb. We may probably be more grateful 
for the slow and steady growth. But in whatever mode 
or form the growth comes, it is the most important 



IN THE HIGH SCHOOL 187 

change in his life. Nothing else can so steady him 
through this period of instability and cause it to result 
in a strong character. 

The only religion which wiU appeal to him is one of 
heroism, endurance, and of powerful, lofty, and master- 
ful personality. His king must be presented to his 
mind as stronger as well as better than he, and as alto- 
gether worthy of his unswerving loyalty, obedience, and 
service. He wiU have no other. 

The mental metamorphosis at adolescence is just as 
profound as the physical at puberty. All things are be- 
coming new. His thoughts and conceptions, standpoints 
and views, judgments and inferences, all the attain- 
ments of childhood are resolved and crystallize anew. 
The form which they now assume will probably be per- 
manent. It must be a time of instability, of surprises, 
and of contradictions. Perhaps you see only the be- 
ginnings of the process. But the preparation and begin- 
ning largely determine the final result. 

It is the period of promise in the life of the boy and 
girl. It is often our privilege to catch a glimpse of 
these promises afar off, before they are suspected by 
parents or friends. Youth is a period of seeing visions 
and of dreaming dreams. There are endless possibilities 
in these dim visions. Mr. Phillips said that the power 
which hurled slavery from its throne was young men 
dreaming dreams by patriots' graves. I imagine that 
he would have acknowledged that a few living patriots 
might vivify the dream without disturbing it. The all- 
important question now is, Can the promise be made 
good, and the visions realized, or wiU they fade and 
disappear, leaving him a philistine or something worse? 
The dream has now more substance and value than all 



188 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

the rules of prosody, propositions of matliematics, or 
facts of anatomy. 

Socrates said tliat his business was tlia-t of a midwife 
to bring great ideas to birth. Adolescence is the second 
birth, when the real man is born into the world. The 
business of the teacher is to bring to birth high aims 
and ideals, strong purposes, a vigorous spiritual life. 
To some these phrases may sound obsolete. They are 
hard to define, and harder of realization. But if there 
is any high-school teacher who cannot feel that they 
have any power and substance, to whom they are alto- 
gether meaningless or hazy, there is one thing for him 
to do. Let him retire to some great institution of learn- 
ing, write a very large book on some useless subject, 
as far as possible from life. He may win renown as 
a lecturer at some great university. He is not big and 
deep enough to teach in a college or high school. These 
are institutions of power as well as of learning. They 
must be like fertile Phthia, "mothers of heroes." 

The formal education of most boys and girls ends 
with the high school. Now he parts with his teachers. 
They must send him out into life with a powerful im- 
petus toward all that is grand and lofty and difficult in 
art, literature, science, morals, and religion. Where one 
pupil goes to college five or ten will go directly into 
life. The high school is, and must be, essentially the 
people's college. It prepares the boy for life. The 
boy and girl are asking us : What is this great world 
and glorious life? What are its meaning and laws? 
How can I prepare for it ? What opportunities must I 
seize vigorously and at once ? What are the great dan- 
gers which await me ? They are really asking for bread 
without which their hungry souls will dwindle and 



IN THE HIGH SCHOOL 189 

starve. If we respond merely with rules of prosody, 
problems of mathematics and dead facts of science, it 
seems to me that we are giving them a stone, or at best 
very dry and innutritions husks. The time for the 
mere memorizing of rules, with little or no regard for 
the absence or presence of any vital content, is past, 
provided it ever was. The over-exercise of the memory 
now clogs instead of stimulating the mind. The boy 
and girl are eager to think and discover concerning the 
most important problems of life. 

Much depends upon the subject, but more upon the 
aim and method of the teacher. Classical literature and 
ancient history teem with life and vitality. But much 
of our drill and routine is admirably fitted to com- 
pletely sterilize them. " Beauty," said Plato, " is the 
splendor of truth." We have no right to rob truth of 
its splendor. Even mathematics and modern languages 
are alive when taught by some teachers. Nature-study 
once consisted largely in counting the number of joints 
in the legs or antennae of a dead grasshopper. It is not 
wonderful that nature-study of that sort was neither 
interesting nor profitable. There are other methods in 
other studies which are equally dead and deadening, 
and which might advantageously be buried. If our 
knowledge is to stick and be remembered, it must in 
some way be made easy of assimilation to the little 
hoard of knowledge of life which our pupils are accu- 
mulating with all the greed of a miser. I fear that our 
system of education is not as wise as their instinctive 
craving. And the high-school teacher is by no means 
a " sinner above all the dwellers in Jerusalem." 

Whatever be the subject, our teachers will gain greatly 
by forgetting, as far as possible, that bane of education. 



190 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

tlie entrance examination for college. After all possible 
arguments in its defense, it still remains true that this 
examination is the strongest possible incentive to the 
memorizing of words, rules, exceptions, and other dis- 
connected facts. The cramming process is the foe of 
genuine thinking. The colleges and universities have 
wisely broadened the field of studies which will prepare 
for entrance. They will broaden it still more. The 
amount of material which must be learned or surveyed 
as a preparation may be, and probably is, larger than 
the schools can handle in the time at their disposal 
consistently with the best mental growth and disci- 
pline. A smaller amount, more thoroughly studied and 
thought out, would very probably give better results. 
Knowledge is the food of the mind. The chief question 
is, not how much we can consume and cause to disap- 
pear, but how much and how thoroughly we can digest 
and assimilate. But these questions also belong to 
experts. By experts we mean men of experience. 

The colleges are fast learning that they may well 
trust the method of preparation to those who have had 
experience with young and immature minds, and that 
there is no one course of study which is best for all. 
The captains of athletic teams have learned that one 
athlete might be trained on the farm, and another in a 
city gymnasium. The chief question is. Has the young 
man the stuff and the power in him? not. How or 
where did he get it ? The high school in the East will 
enjoy all the freedom of those in the West, possibly 
even more. It will frame its own course of study, suited 
to the needs of the overwhelming majority of its own 
students. It will train and develop according to the 
dictates of experience, not merely and entirely accord- 



IN THE HIGH SCHOOL 191 

ing to the best theories based on the psychology of the 
adult mind. The aim of the training wiU no longer be 
merely the largest possible amount of learning and in- 
tellectual discipline, but growth and development of aU 
the powers, grasp, and efficiency, a large and full life. 
When they have attained these, learning wiU come al- 
most of itseK. Thus the high school will accomplish 
its chief end and purpose ; and the college will receive 
stronger, keener, more vigorous and earnest, better 
developed and hence better prepared students. This 
change is coming fast, and is steadily gaining momen- 
tum. It wiU go far to solve the question why so many 
fail OF do not care to reach the high school. It will 
draw to the teaching profession the young blood and 
enthusiasm, the brawn and brain, the power and effi- 
ciency, which are so much needed. 

Perhaps we are teaching literature : some great poem, 
or thrilling oration, or a description of matchless power 
and beauty. We can make it our first aim to have our 
pupils look up every reference. They will learn much 
botany, archaeology, astronomy, and other useful and 
useless bits of information, which they wiU probably 
commit to their note-books and promptly forget. In 
my younger days we used Milton's " Paradise Lost " 
as material for the study of analysis. " Complex ad- 
verbial modifiers " of various classes infest our day no 
longer, but our aversion to Milton did not lose its hold 
so easily. It never seemed quite fair to Milton to use his 
grand poem for such a purpose, although I believe that 
his reputation has not suffered greatly from the abuse. 
But it harmed us all, and robbed some of us of our 
birthright. 

We can show our classes the times and conditions 



192 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

under which a poem arose. They will learn a certain 
amount of history, which may be very valuable. We 
may teach them to paraphrase the poem, and they may 
gain a little power and fluency in the use of English 
words and phrases from its mangled remains. The so- 
called translation of Latin or Greek often amounts to 
much the same thing. After translation the thought 
and soul are frequently lost somewhere between Heaven 
and Hell, probably somewhat nearer the latter than 
the former. 

The rule of the zoologist, that the animal should be 
observed and studied alive as carefully and thoroughly 
as possible before you kill and dissect it, holds good 
in literature also. The pupils should feel some of the 
movement, power, and life of the poem before they pro- 
ceed to destroy all this by their dissection, analysis, and 
rules of prosody and grammar. We wish, first of all, 
that they should enter into its spirit, find in it an in- 
spiration which they cannot analyze or express, discover 
a beauty and a " light which never was on sea or land." 
They may not understand it ; it is enough if they have 
felt it. The power and beauty have penetrated far 
deeper than the intellect, they have seized upon the 
imagination, won the heart, interfused and transfigured 
the whole being. Now we are teaching literature. 

The eye is the window of the intellect, but the ear is 
the doorway to the heart and soul. Do we make enough 
use of this method of approach in studies which ought 
to lift and inspire ? A passage familiar to the eye often 
comes to us with new and marvelous power or beauty, 
when read sympathetically by another. English was 
intended to be a spoken as well as a written language. 

In thus teaching literature we have done something 



IN THE HIGH SCHOOL 193 

far better than merely to give literary instruction. We 
have awakened a new and life-giving interest which oth- 
erwise would have remained dormant and have died. In 
teaching children we had to follow their interests very 
largely, but we can lead and inspire the adolescent to 
share our best enthusiasms. The enthusiasm or interest 
may be immortal while the instruction is usually soon 
forgotten. All the information which we can give will 
soon be crowded out of the mind by the cares, thoughts, 
and pursuits of adult life. But the pupil who has felt 
the power and beauty of one grand poem will never 
again be quite content with poor and low literature. 
Some of them will demand the very best. But if Mil- 
ton's lines are only material for analysis, and Homer 
is only a peg for rules of grammar, where is the inspira- 
tion to come in ? 

We have neither time nor place to consider other 
studies and branches of education. The methods and 
courses of the high school of to-day are vastly better 
than they were or could be twenty-five years ago. But 
even now in the effort to give abundant instruction are 
we not laying too little emphasis on the supremeimport- 
ance of awakening new and lasting interests, inspira- 
tions, and enthusiasms? 

Is even the development of a literary, historic, or sci- 
entific taste the chief end of the high school ? Is there 
something stiU higher, better suited to adolescent needs ? 
I believe that we will agree that the greatest human 
need is complete devotion to the highest moral and 
religious ideals ; and that character is formed early, at 
least in tendency. It usually does not change essen- 
tially after the youth is twenty years old. It will 
improve, grow, and strengthen ; but the growth will be 



194 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

along lines already marked. In one word character is 
formed in the high school, and this is its period of most 
rapid development. 

Whoever wishes to develop a strong character must 
go deeper than the intellect, must mould the feelings 
and reach the will. We must arouse purpose as well as 
enthusiasm. Somehow we must train the unstable boy 
and girl to steadfastness and perseverance, to self-con- 
trol, to prolonged and effective effort. This is the essen- 
tial, crucial, and often baffling, problem of the teacher 
in the high school and during the first years in college. 
We work in the dark, and have few or no means of 
judging of the degree of success or failure attending our 
efforts. Another's will is not our province, and we enter 
it only by permission or unnoticed. Forcible invasion 
and conquest are out of the question. Will training is 
exceedingly slow and difficult, and requires inexhaust- 
ible faith and patience, as well as sympathy, insight, 
and skill. Yet somehow we must solve the problem. 

You can form character through literature. You can- 
not spend an evening with charming Miss Esther Sum- 
merson or with fine old Colonel Newcome, and not be 
kindlier and more courteous, more brave and enduring. 
We can make history a dreary chronicle of dates and 
battles, or through it we can introduce our pupils to the 
heroes of all the ages. We can make it another eleventh 
chapter of Hebrews. If we tell of Gideon and Barak, 
of Washington and Lincoln, of prophets, apostles, and 
martyrs ; if we saturate our pupils with the character 
of such men and women, have we not already trained a 
race of heroes ? We are to see to it that the ideal does 
not become the object of a mere idle sentimental wor- 
ship, but the goal of strenuous and long-continued effort. 



IN THE HIGH SCHOOL 195 

We must therefore keep before them the example of 
men and women who, through much tribulation, have 
realized their ideals. Says Mr. Martineau, " We shaU 
never have a proper system of education until we have 
a properly written ' Lives of the Saints.' " 

We must train our boys and girls to walk the streets 
and to live in the world's Prytaneum with heroes and 
heroines. Can we not find an hour somewhere in the 
course to read to them Plato's " Apology " or the " Crito " ? 
Let them sit with Socrates in his prison and listen to 
his discourse until the voice of the Laws " rings in their 
ears like the clang of the cymbals of the Corybants, and 
they can hear nothing else." Let them return once more 
and watch the sun sink over against the same prison 
and hear the last words of the old hero and sage as he 
bids his follower not fail to offer the sacrifice of thanks- 
giving due to the god of healing. We can not only 
awaken a new interest, we can arouse a higher life. 

This power of arousing the divine life immanent in 
every human soul is the essential characteristic and cri- 
terion of every great teacher, prophet, and moral leader 
of all time. Read Alcibiades' tribute to the teaching of 
Socrates. Its seat is in the depths of personality; 
it defies alike analysis and resistance. It leaps from 
soul to soul as if by contagion. Heroism evoked by 
hero-worship is the central thought of all history 
from Gideon and his three hundred to Sheridan at Win- 
chester changing a fleeing mob into an army of heroes. 
Virtue streams out from strong characters like electric- 
ity from a dynamo. Character cannot be taught, but 
it is exceedingly infectious ; and good is more infectious 
than evil. If we amount to anything, we are sources of 
infection whether we will or not. 



196 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

Hence courses, training, methods, and instruction 
all together are of far less importance than the per- 
sonality of the teacher. The " everlasting miracle '* 
which Kipling's Sergeant What-is-name worked when 
*' He drilled a black man white, he made a mummy 
fight,'* ^ is the final secret and essence of education. 
The chief use of school and college is to bring pupil 
and teacher near enough together so that the miracle 
will work itself. If we teachers are good for anything, 
we are putting into our pupils something better than 
our life-blood. "We must be healthy in mind and body, 
or we cannot be strong; and strength streams only 
from the strong. We must be sympathetic, for sym- 
pathy is the cable along which the magnetic power of 
personality flows. With children we must be a child, 
and a boy with the boys. Otherwise the bond is broken 
or never formed. 

We must be patient, hopeful, and courageous, else 
the child or man will not trust us, and will have none 
of us. Evidently we must catch this personality from 
some one else, and can transmit only what we have 
received. No one of us is quite big enough to fill the 
place assigned to him. Hence a teacher who does not 
believe with all her heart in the communion of saints 
will never be a real educator, however much Greek or 
History she may know, or however firm and wise her 
discipline. We must live in constant association with 
the best and noblest souls. We can easily find them 
among our immediate neighbors, if we search aright ; 
if not, we must seek them in literature and history. 
We must gain admittance to what Heine has called 
" the apostolic succession of great souls, the only people 

1 " Pharaoh and the Sergeant," McClure's Magazine, vol. ix. 



IN THE HIGH SCHOOL 197 

who understand anything in the world," And we must 
change into their image. We are called to the very- 
grandest of all professions. We cannot be sufficiently 
proud of our calling, or sufficiently humbled by the 
smaUness of our attainments or accomplishments. We 
make the state or commonwealth of the twentieth cen- 
tury. We are doing something still bigger and better. 
We work for the development of the race. We mould 
it into conformity with what is deepest and most per- 
manent in environment. Hence all the powers of Nature 
are with us. We cast in our efforts with the irresistible 
tide of events as it sweeps on toward a better age. Let 
us " be strong and of a very good courage." 



CHAPTEK XIV 

PHYSICAL TRAINING — THE PLACE OF PLAY IN 
EDUCATION 

Growth is periodic and by parts. Each organ and 
system has a stage when growth and development de- 
pend upon exercise. This is true of different parts of 
the brain as well as of other organs. We have seen 
that our business is to discover what organ is growing 
rapidly and most needs exercise at each epoch, and to 
give that organ the kind and amount of exercise which 
it needs. The need is manifested by a craving or in- 
terest, which is as natural, physiological, and reliable, 
as hunger or thirst. 

The foundation of a house must be laid before the 
superstructure can be added. Nature cannot build the 
complex human body by allowing all organs to grow 
equally fast at all times. Growth and development are 
successive, and follow a physiological sequence. Each 
system or part has its own period of acceleration. Even 
in infancy the vital visceral organs are sufficiently ma- 
ture to provide nourishment and oxygen and to remove 
waste. Infancy and early childhood are their period of 
most rapid growth, and belong mainly to them. But 
even in the young child the heavy muscles are evidently 
maturing and crave exercise. The child runs, jumps, 
romps, and throws the ball. The use of these heavy 
muscles reacts upon heart, lungs, and all the internal 



PHYSICAL TRAINING 199 

organs, and stimulates their growth and development. 
Thus the muscles are our main reliance for insuring 
a healthy adult life. The kindergarten stage is charac- 
terized partly by sensory development, partly by the 
use of the heavier muscles. The period from six to ten 
is predominantly a motor period. The child's mental 
interests are still comparatively few and feeble. He is 
learning the uses of things. But inference and critical 
judgment, and the power to classify, do not appear until 
later. 

These are the full years preceding the lean years of 
rapid growth in height and of the pubertal metamor- 
phosis. We should use them to the utmost to store up 
material, strength, and vitality against this greatest 
crisis of life. All else can be deferred, but puberty 
hastens on relentlessly. Still even this crisis can be de- 
layed somewhat and to the great advantage of the child, 
by sufficient open air and muscular exercise and by the 
avoidance of undue nervous stimulation and excitement. 
The more we can thus delay the crisis, the safer the 
passage, and the more satisfactory the issue. This is 
especially true of the girl, whose development is preco- 
cious and hurried. During the earlier years of school 
life physical training gives a very large return. And 
these are the years when the lack of mental interests 
suggests to us the futility of any large amount of 
book-study. 

The pubertal period is characterized by a very rapid 
growth in height and by readjustment or rebuilding of 
all the organs of the body. This results in a large 
amount of waste which threatens to poison the blood, 
depress the nervous system, and to lower the tone of 
vitality throughout the body. Hence the rise of mor" 



200 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

bidity, and the appearance of ansemia with all its evil 
results especially noticeable in the girl, but only less 
marked in the boy. Every one of these symptoms or 
conditions is a crying demand for more oxygen through 
a larger capacity of the lungs. This can be attained 
through muscular exercise and only in this way. Phys- 
ical training seems to be at least as necessary here as 
in the lower grades. 

Even during adolescence the tissues must be matured 
and hardened against the rise of morbidity about eight- 
een and the accompanying increased death-rate. There 
seems to be no year in the life of the child or youth 
when physical training is not absolutely essential for 
one purpose or another. The results of sedentary in- 
door life show its need in the adult. 

All exercise, whether physical or mental, must be 
given in moderate doses frequently repeated, if it is to 
have its largest and best effects. We eat three times 
a day, and the child can safely eat oftener. We have 
a succession of recitations five days in the week. Can 
we expect the best results from physical training re- 
quired only two half-hours in the week, or left for the 
child to pick up for himseK or neglect Saturdays and 
Wednesday afternoons ? It is urged continually that we 
need not provide physical training for children and youth 
in the school. They have the hours after school for that 
purpose. But is it certain that the boy who most needs 
the exercise will take it ? Is the girl sure to spend this 
time in the open air, and not to be needed for home 
duties ? 

It is frequently said that the school is for study, 
and that the home should provide the physical train- 
ing. But if the school is designed to insure the train- 



PHYSICAL TRAINING 201 

ing and education which is essential at each epoch, 
the lower grades might well devote their time almost 
exclusively to physical exercise and leave the book- 
study to be cared for at home. Strong arguments could 
be adduced for this view. But both extremes are to 
be avoided. There is room for both kinds of training 
in the school. 

The muscles react directly or indirectly upon the 
brain as weU as upon heart and lungs. An easily 
exhausted body means a brain incapable of strong or 
prolonged effort. Poor blood betrays itself in poverty 
or dullness of thought and in a lack of clearness of 
expression as well as of complexion. Who knows how 
far the freshness and vigor of the best English thought 
and expression are due to their sports and outdoor life ? 
During puberty, and probably at aU epochs, the brighter 
pupils have the larger lung capacity. Many girls are 
reprimanded for lack of application, and finally condi- 
tioned in their studies during the grammar-school years 
because of dullness due largely or entirely to their phys- 
ical condition and insufficient lung capacity. This is 
cruelty. We should strike at the root of the difficulty 
instead of treating the symptom. The buoyancy and 
hopefulness of youth accompany the rise in blood- 
pressure. Courage, vitality, and the temperature of the 
body sink together during the hours before dawn. The 
tides of religious feeling are at their flood at fourteen 
and sixteen when the girths and the lung capacity 
have their accelerated increase. These are but a few 
illustrations of the fact that the condition of the body 
is reflected by the brain. 

But this is not all. Many of the most valuable men- 
tal qualities and powers are best attained through mus- 



202 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

cular exercise. Accuracy of thought and expression is 
secured through accuracy of observation required for 
precise action. The will is trained most easily and 
effectively through muscular effort, especially during 
the years of immaturity of the tissues of the higher 
centres of the brain. Even the intellectual centres are 
matured in the same way. The process of medullation 
of the fibres and of maturing of the cells of the associa- 
tion areas proceeds centripetally from their edges in- 
ward. The parts adjoining the sensory and motor areas 
are the first to become meduUated. 

Hence the subject of physical training demands our 
most careful attention. In some schools the department 
has already won the place which belongs to it. It is 
most highly prized where it has been most carefully 
and thoroughly tried. There is still difference of opin- 
ion as to methods and forms. More careful study and 
experiment will doubtless greatly increase its efficiency. 
Defects remain to be remedied. But even in very sim- 
ple forms it may be exceedingly useful. 

It has many kinds and forms. We can consider only 
two of them : Play and Gymnastics. Manual training 
is allied to these, but is quite different in aim and scope. 
One or two other forms may be of almost or quite equal 
importance. The school-garden has come to stay. The 
country school-house with its mullein stalks and sumachs, 
a dreary building in a waste and cheerless land, will 
soon be a thing of the past. With our wealth of hardy 
and beautiful trees, shrubs, vines, and flowers, it can 
and wiU be made a joy to the eyes of all observers and 
an example to the community. This work has already 
been accomplished in many places. It is sad that so 
many country children have been accustomed mainly to 



PHYSICAL TRAINING 203 

ugliness during so many hours of every day of their 
most impressible years. In spite of prophecies to the 
contrary the city has demonstrated the possibility of 
such gardens, and the country is realizing their neces- 
sity. 

We can best consider first the value of Play in edu- 
cation. This is the form of exercise which most appeals 
to young children ; which is easiest, most natural, and 
most useful in the earlier grades ; and which forms the 
foundation for other exercises. 

No one can deny that the child's impulse to play is 
instinctive. The young of the higher vertebrates play 
also. Dr. Gulick ^ has called attention to the fact that 
play is practically the whole education of the animal ; 
and that the adult intelligence of any species is fore- 
shadowed in the complexity of the play-life of the 
young ; and, finally, that the character of the play has 
a definite relation to the life-activities of the adult. An 
instinct of so wide range and power among animals 
should be of great importance in man. 

The origin of the instinct has been variously explained. 
Play is activity for its own sake. The playing animal 
or child seeks no other reason. Some have regarded it 
as a means of working off superfluous energy ; others, 
as exercise to promote growth ; still others as a prelim- 
inary practice, a rehearsal, as it were, of the activities 
which are essential to adult life. There is probably 
truth in every one of these explanations. 

Evidently the motions, speech, and all the actions of 
the baby are a form of play. The random movements 
may be a relief from restlessness through the discharge 

^ "Psychological, Pedagogical, and Religious Aspects of Group 
Games," Fed. Sem. vol. vi. 



204 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

of energy continually accumulating in the cells. But 
all the time the baby is discovering himself, his parts, 
and his powers. He seems to be greatly interested in 
all his discoveries, as he well may be. 

He begins very early to be interested in simple toys, 
especially in those which will make a noise. He exam- 
ines them repeatedly and carefuUy with eyes, hands, 
and mouth. His plays are largely sensory ; and with 
the dominance of the sensory powers two other powers 
arise which are of great importance in life. These are 
imagination and imitation. 

Imagination and sensation are very closely related. 
When, before the dawn of judgment, sensations so 
largely occupy the mind, imagination has free scope and 
is exceedingly vivid. The child often fails altogether 
to distinguish between the real and the imagined. 
Hence the enjoyment of simple toys and playthings far 
exceeds that drawn from the complex machines often 
given to children. They are, as Jastrow has said, " lay 
figures on which the child's imagination can weave and 
drape its fancies." Fairy stories delight the young 
child. But they must always be told in the same words, 
else they do not fit the pictures associated with them in 
the child's mind. The value of this power cannot be 
overestimated. Without it the scientific man cannot 
plan his experiments, nor the inventor his machine. 
History is a dreary chronicle unless the writer has seen 
the events clearly and vividly, and lived in the times 
which he describes. 

For the same reason the child is imitative. The actions 
and speech of those about him make a strong impression 
on his mind, and the impression manifests itself in 
action. Usually the imitation is vivified by imagination, 



PHYSICAL TRAINING 205 

and the cMld becomes for the time being minister or 
teacher, carpenter, doctor, or conductor. Thus he plays 
himself into a knowledge of the world, and into likeness 
to his elders. 

Sensation, imagination, and imitation mingle in very- 
varying amounts in the plays of different children. 
They may use the same toys, but the play will vary accord- 
ing as the child is imaginative, imitative, or sensory and 
matter of fact. Even at this period different children 
require quite different training. We are just beginning to 
appreciate the importance of imitation in education and 
in adult life. All these important powers are developing 
rapidly and gaining exercise while the child is playing 
with his blocks or at the sand-pile. With or soon after 
these exercises come the attempts at self-expression, 
which we might almost call manifestations of a creative 
instinct. This is shown in the child's drawings, paper- 
cutting, building, and other amusements. 

The child's movements are steadily increasing in 
number and complexity. Early movements are those of 
the fundamental muscles which become reflex and form 
the foundation for and beginnings of all the complex 
actions of adult life. So running, walking, handling, 
and the use of the body. Only when these have been 
thoroughly mastered can the brain proceed to higher 
and more complex activities. All these plays are indi- 
vidualistic. 

Gulick and Burk both agree in these general con- 
clusions. Burk^ finds that the spontaneous plays of 
kindergarten children involve the use of the heavy mus- 
cles mainly of the legs. They involve no intense effort, 
precision or skill. About fifty-one per cent of the plays 

^ The Study of the Kindergarten Problem. 



206 GEOWTH AND EDUCATION 

were by Individuals, twenty-six per cent by groups 
of two or three, and twenty-three per cent by larger 
groups. The spontaneous play of this epoch is " un- 
organized, non-competitive, and non-cooperative." 

A second group of plays prevails between seven and 
twelve. These, according to Dr. Gulick,^ are social but 
competitive. Boys and girls play in groups, but every 
one usually plays for himself. Tag and other running 
games are the earliest. Throwing games are popular. 
Boys " stump " one another to difficult feats. The 
movements are more complicated and demand skill. 
Hunting and fishing are great delights. Predatory 
instincts begin to appear. These are the traditional, 
racial games, all based on the same instincts and needs, 
but varying greatly among different peoples. They 
represent the life-occupations of the highest mammals 
below man : chase, battle, etc. The instincts of the 
player are still animal rather than distinctively human. 
They depend, as a rule, upon muscular power and 
knack more than upon strategy or even skill. 

After twelve, or thereabout, a third class of games 
appears ; baseball, basketball, football, etc. They are 
group games played with sides. They are markedly 
cooperative, and demand the subordination of the indi- 
vidual. " Team-work " is the key-word. Sacrifice-hits 
are demanded. The games are complex and highly or- 
ganized. Methods, aims, ends, and rules are fixed and 
definite. The most complex and precise movements are 
required. Strength and endurance are tested. Mere 
technical skill and knack no longer suffice. The higher 
mental powers play a larger part. This is but a brief 

^ "Psychological, Pedagogical, and Religious Aspects of Group 
Games,'' Ped. Sent. vol. vi. 



PHYSICAL TRAINING 207 

condensation of Dr. Gulick's excellent analysis of the 
plays and games at different epochs. 

We are chiefly interested in the cooperative and 
competitive games played between seven and twelve. 
Tag, hide-and-seek, and other running games are earli- 
est. Ball soon follows. Our question is. Is the educa- 
tional value of these games sufficient to justify giving 
them a regular place in the school curriculum during 
these years ? 

We will consider first their hygienic value. Running 
and throwing games involve the use of the heavier 
muscles. They exercise the largest amount of muscular 
tissue with the smallest expenditure of nervous energy. 
In the use of the finer muscles, in drawing, writing, 
and fencing, the reverse is true. The games are suited 
to the condition and stage of development of the nerv- 
ous system. They exercise and stimulate growth in its 
most stable and fundamental portions, and fortify it 
against aU forms of nervous weakness and disease. We 
have already seen that the use of so much muscle 
exercises and stimulates heart, lungs, and aU the vis- 
cera, and promotes a healthy growth. If one organ, 
for instance the heart or the lungs, is undersized or 
weak, it has to work the hardest to meet the require- 
ments of the body, and receives the largest share of 
the exercise. It is stimulated to grow faster, and thus 
overtakes the rest. There is little danger of over- 
strain ; for, when the weakest part has had exercise 
enough, the child tires and plays more quietly or drops 
out. He can do this easily, for usually there are no 
fixed sides. Thus the weaker part is made as strong 
as the others, and the body gains a symmetrical devel- 
opment. 



208 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

No game is usually played for a very long time. 
Soon all tire and rest, or a new game is started, exercis- 
ing new muscles and nervous centres. 

This growth and equalization of all parts of the body, 
resulting in a symmetrical development, is the essential 
part of education at this epoch. Furthermore, in all 
children's games periods of physical activity alternate 
frequently with periods of rest. There is little half- 
hearted dawdling. This is the ideal method of exercise. 

If you watch a young child play, you are amused by 
the number, variety, and vigor of movements. Many of 
these give good exercise, but are a complete waste of 
energy as far as the result of the game is concerned. 
Gradually, as he plays more, he learns to suppress these, 
to economize and concentrate energy. This is one of 
the earliest and best lessons in self-control. It is a slow 
growth. But the poise and repose of the trained athlete 
are as admirable as his strength. All his life long he 
saves the energy which others waste in fidgeting and 
fretting. He is a shrewd investor, not a spendthrift, of 
his great power. 

Play furnishes the very best mental training. Watch 
even a game of tag. The sense-organs are all alert. 
The attention is focused on one point. This is the best 
means of training the will, for close attention to one 
thing is one of the best forms of will-power. The child 
must " size up " the situation, and grasp the opportunity 
once and for all. He cannot " stand shivering on the 
brink of action," as the adult so frequently does. Think- 
ing, willing, and doing are united, not separated. The 
same movement is repeated until perfected, and with 
undiminished interest. The child forgets himself, and 
loses shyness and self-consciousness in the game. As he 



PHYSICAL TRAINING 209 

grows older, the opportunity for skill, thought, plan, 
and strategy constantly increases. On the play-ground 
he learns far more than the rudiments of the science of 
success in life. 

Here he must act on his own initiative. There is no 
one to tell him always just what to do, or more fre- 
quently what not to do. He is placed more nearly in 
the position of the farmer's boy, who had to help him- 
self out of every emergency as best he could. The 
greatest losses in our modern life and education lie 
along these lines. 

The kindergarten child is gregarious, but hardly so- 
cial. The sensory period is one of little cooperation or 
competition, hence it is a time of comparative peace. 
But the child in the primary and intermediate grades 
is learning to get on with his fellows. He is finding 
how much he can claim, and what he must yield ; and 
how to yield with good nature. This is no easy lesson 
in these days of small families and large indulgence. 
Yet it must be learned. There is no more pitiable 
object than the boy trained under tutors or in small 
classes when thrown among other boys in academ}'- or 
college. 

He is often handicapped throughout life by the loss 
of this early training. At no period is there so much 
friction and squabbling, and so many accusations of 
meanness and unfair play. The result of the experience 
is worth a thousand-fold more than it costs, even if the 
price is sometimes tears and bloodshed and a black eye. 
The difficulties prove the need of the training. 

Here the boy and girl receive their first lessons in 
the grandest art or science of life, that of making many 
firm friendships. A wise clergyman once said that in 



210 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

the miUenniiim, if not sooner, a man's success in life 
would be measured by the number of friends instead of 
the number of dollars which he had amassed. Friend- 
ships are made on the playground far more than at the 
desk. If he does not learn to make them now, he prob- 
ably never will. It was the " twa who paddled in the 
bum " and " wandered o'er the brae " together, who 
formed the friendship which weary wanderings and wide 
seas could not break. We parents usually do not help 
the child enough in this most important branch of his 
education, and we should encourage far more than we 
do his democratic tendencies. 

The conception of fair and unfair play is almost the 
first genuine and spontaneous moral distinction which 
the child makes. He is still very hazy in his ideas 
of rights of property, and is anything but clear in his 
theories as to the necessity of truthfulness. But he is 
sure that the boy who cheats is mean and low, which 
is his definition of total depravity. If this germ of mo- 
rality is fostered as it may be, it will bud and blossom 
in a whole system of individual, social, and civic right- 
eousness. It has marvelous vitality and possibilities. 
But if you despise or neglect it, if you attempt to replace 
it by your own adult system of ethics, what happens ? 
The boy and girl lose faith in their own conceptions of 
morality ; they can neither understand nor appreciate 
your adult ethics ; they are left without any system 
which appeals to them ; their last state is worse than 
their first. Indeed they have fallen from a compara- 
tively high estate. Fair play is at this stage more im- 
portant than grace of deportment. Grace will in time 
follow strength. 

Play is the best form and kind of physical training 



PHYSICAL TRAINING 211 

because it gives the most enjoyment. The chat and so- 
cial pleasures accompanying a good dinner increase 
our powers of digestion. The enjoyment of a lesson or 
study fixes it in our minds, as well as inspires to further 
effort. So joy in exercise promotes growth as really as 
sunlight does. The work from which the play element 
is absent can never be of the highest order. Art is like 
play in that it is its own reward. Opportunity is an 
even higher and larger word than duty ; and opportun- 
ities must be enjoyed. We should dignify play by our 
attention, study, and approval. Especially the girl needs 
to form such habits of play and other forms of phys- 
ical exercise that she will not outgrow them when she 
lengthens her skirts. 

The Puritan in his righteous protest against the fol- 
lies of a frivolous court went to the extreme of trying 
very hard to despise play. He succeeded in making 
himself and all his neighbors thoroughly uncomfortable. 
He frowned upon leisure, which Aristotle considered the 
end of work. Some of his descendants inveigh against 
the kindergarten, and forbid following the natural in- 
terests of the child. It is a relic of the ancient, and not 
yet fully outgrown, opinion, that Nature is essentially 
evil. They used to say : " Hold the child's nose to the 
grindstone." The result was usually a severe struggle, 
with much animosity, heat, and friction ; which ended 
in painfully and slowly i?emoving a useful if not orna- 
mental appendage. What we need is not to crowd out 
play or its spirit, but somehow to get more of the en- 
thusiasm and zest of the playground into the work. 

The advantages of play are many and great, and we 
have by no means exhausted the list. But it may be 
urged that every moment during the session is needed 



212 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

for recitation or study. The hour of play seems to be 
more profitable than any recitation or study ; and if it 
can be gained in no other way, some learning should 
be sacrificed to make place for it. But those who have 
had experience in half-time schools report that young 
children learn almost or quite as much during half a 
day as during a whole one. The introduction of out- 
door and manual work in our truant and industrial 
schools has not diminished the amount of knowledge 
acquired, but rather increased it. The children are 
more industrious, as well as amenable and contented. 

Much of the book-work might well be postponed 
until the brain is somewhat more mature. The study 
introduced before the child can appreciate it becomes 
an object of indifference or more probably of aversion 
when it might be enjoyed a year later. The work would 
be done later in less time, and with far less effort. The 
disciplinary value of most studies as a means of stimu- 
lating growth of the brain is very small at this age. 

Every teacher knows how few boys and girls grow up 
with good habits of study and powers of application. 
The colleges and universities criticise the preparatory 
schools for this defect, and the teachers of each grade 
report that the habit has been acquired and fixed in 
some lower one. Hence some logical sages lay the 
blame on the kindergarten system. 

The cause seems to lie in the lack of powers of ap- 
plication, and here the remedy must be applied. The 
child in the primary or intermediate grade cannot and 
ought not to be required to exercise the immature 
centres of thought continuously for any long time. 
Probably one hour of mental work each day furnishes 
more exercise than the brain requires or can use profit- 



PHYSICAL TRAINING 213 

ably. He spends this amount of time in class-work, 
and returns to his seat. In many of our schools one 
young woman or mere girl has thirty or forty pupils in 
one room. They must be kept quiet, or disorder and 
anarchy will prevail. The child is given desk-work, or 
is told to take his book and study. Every muscle in 
his body is tingling and twitching for the exercise 
which it sadly needs, while the brain has neither need 
nor use for further exercise. But he must sit still. The 
problem which he has to solve is really this : How to 
forget his discomfort, and to remain quiet and to pre- 
tend to look at his book, and not do any mental work. 
He looks out of the window all he dares, and thinks 
about outside things the rest of the time. Now and 
then he reads a little in his book and moves his lips. 
But heart and thought are far away. When he has 
kept up this practice for two or three years, genuine 
study has become quite impossible. He has formed 
habits of dawdling and inattention. He will find it 
very hard to break or change these habits. The teacher 
is not to blame. It is wonderful that she can do as well 
as she does. The child is certainly not to blame. It 
would harm him to keep his brain active throughout 
the session. The system is responsible. 

We seem to have taken it for granted that if an 
adult can apply himself for several hours to the work 
of class and study, the child can do the same. We are 
in danger of forgetting that the frequent interruption 
and change which spoil adult work are exactly what 
the child most needs. Send him out of doors until the 
muscles have had the exercise which they need. Then 
he will return ready to apply himself vigorously to his 
books for a short time. A few moments of vigorous 



214 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

application at any one time are enough. The result of 
repeating this alternation day after day would be habits 
of close application. We have no right to expect en- 
durance from the brain tissues of the child. As he 
grows older the study periods may be lengthened. But 
we shall surely gain our best results by making them 
too short rather than too long. 

It is certainly a misfortune that the plaything or 
game is always a reward, and the book very rarely so. 
We gladly recognize the gTcat improvement already 
made in this respect, but something still remains to be 
done. Says shrewd old John Locke : 

" If he [the child] be ordered every day to whip his 
top so long as to make him sufficiently weary, do you 
not think that he will apply himself with eagerness to 
his book, and wish for it, if you promise it him as 
a reward of having whipped his Top lustily, quite out 
all the time that is set him ? Children, in the things 
they do, if they comport with their age, find little 
difference so they may be doing: The Esteem they 
have for one thing above another they borrow from 
others ; so that what those about them make to be a 
reward to them wiU reaUy be so. By this art it is in 
their Governor's choice whether Scotch-hoppers shall 
reward their Dancing, or Dancing their Scotch- 
hoppers ; whether peg-top or reading ; playing at Trap 
or studying the Globes shall be more acceptable and 
pleasing to them ; all that they desire being to be busy, 
and busy as they imagine in things of their own choice, 
and which they receive as favors from their Parents or 
others for whom they have respect and with whom they 
would be in Credit. A set of children thus ordered 
and kept from the iU example of others, would all of 



PHYSICAL TRAINING 215 

them, I suppose, with as much earnestness and delight 
learn to read, write, and what else one would have 
them, as others do their ordinary plays. ^ 

" Thus Children may be cozened into a Knowledge 
of the Letters ; be taught to read without perceiving it 
to be anything but a sport, and play themselves into 
that which others are whipped for. Children should not 
have anything like work or serious laid on them ; 
neither their Minds nor Bodies will bear it ; it injures 
their Healths ; and their being forced and tied down to 
their Books in an age at enmity with all such restraint 
has, I doubt not, been the reason, why a great many 
have hated books and learning all their lives after. 
'T is like a surfeit, that leaves an Aversion behind not 
to be removed." ^ 

" Play," said Colonel Parker, " is God's method of 
teaching children how to work." " The plays of chil- 
dren," says Froebel, " are the germinal leaves of all 
later life." Some one has expressed the same thought 
somewhat less elegantly, saying : " The boy without a 
play-ground is father to the man without a job." With- 
out play life is stunted, and few of its possibilities are re- 
alized. Great men, as Yoder has shown, usually played 
hard and well in their childhood. The English nation 
recognizes how much it owes to the national games. 
Other nations are fast learning to recognize the value 
of this characteristic of English education. A more 
eloquent plea for games and plays can hardly be found 
than in Burgerstein's and Netolitzky's " Handbuch der 
Schulhygiene." The place of play in the curriculum has 
been recognized in some, at least, of the German 

^ Locke, Thoughts concerning Education, pax. 129. 
2 Ibid. par. 149. 



216 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

schools, and we must remember that Germany is the 
home of gymnastics, and hence has less need of play. 
The same is true of some, or perhaps many, of our 
American schools. The proper length and frequency of 
these play-periods must be determined by the experi- 
ments of teachers and superintendents. Their amount 
and distribution will probably differ in different local- 
ities according to needs and conditions. The best results 
require that play should occupy fixed times, and that it 
should alternate with class- work. A little consideration 
will convince any one that these advantages cannot be 
gained by dismissing the smaller children a half-hour 
earlier, and sending them to their homes. But even this 
is better than a longer confinement. 

No small advantage from this change would be that 
the teacher would be compelled to spend a certain 
amount of time each day in the open air, and would be 
tempted, at least, to take some active exercise. The 
muscles of the teacher need exercise as much as those 
of the child. 

The question of athletics in the high school is not 
a purely physiological problem, and we can hardly more 
than glance at that aspect of it. The group games of 
adolescence have great value. They strengthen and 
harden muscles, and test endurance. " Head-work " is 
necessary. The player must be keen to see the strong 
and weak points of his supporters and opponents, and 
quick to take advantage of them. He must have pa- 
tience, courage, and self-control ; loyalty and obedience 
to his captain. He must subordinate his own interests to 
those of the team. He learns to play an uphill or 
losing game, and to smile in the face of discouragement 
or defeat. If overstrain of the weak heart is avoided, 



PHYSICAL TRAINING 217 

school athletics may be made exceedingly useful. Many 
of the worst evils of athletics in our larger institutions 
are not likely to occur in high schools. A larger scope 
for athletics during these earlier years would probably 
lead to a more moderate and temperate enjoyment of 
them afterward. Inoculation often lessens the viru- 
lence of disease. 



CHAPTEE XV 

PHYSICAL TRAINING — GYMNASTICS 

The need of gymnastics is almost universally recog- 
nized. But different communities and nations assign 
it a very different value compared with that of 
other branches. In the German system of education it 
holds a very important place. We are only beginning 
to appreciate that our own children need it even more 
than the German. Its value seems to be far better and 
more generally appreciated than that of play, hence our 
discussion of the subject can be briefer. 

Play is activity for its own sake. Gymnastic exer- 
cises have an ulterior purpose, to develop, strengthen, 
or otherwise modify some organ of the body. Hence 
the same activity may at the same time take the form 
of play or of gymnastics. The boy enjoys running games, 
but finds that he cannot run as fast or as far as his 
mates. He practices running to increase his speed or 
endurance. Now his running has become a gymnastic 
exercise. 

We enter upon a course of gymnastic training because 
we recognize the need of strengthening some weak 
organ of the body ; or others notice the need and 
prescribe it for us. Gymnastics are possible without 
a gymnasium, and many free gymnastic exercises are 
performed without any apparatus. Gymnastics require 
careful and wise supervision. The boy turned loose in 
a gymnasium naturally uses his strongest muscles. Such 



PHYSICAL TRAINING — GYMNASTICS 219 

exercises are easiest, give him the most pleasure, and 
aUow him to show his superiority. He neglects the exer- 
cise which will strengthen his weakest parts. The 
result is that his arms, shoulders, or legs become devel- 
oped beyond the rest of his body. This is frequently 
noticeable in athletes addicted to the use of bar or 
trapeze. 

The aim of our modern system of gymnastics is not 
to produce prodigies of strength, or to enable men to 
perform difficult feats, but to give an harmonious devel- 
opment. This requires a wise teacher and a patient, per- 
severing pupil. Here is one difficulty of gymnastics : 
to make them as attractive and enjoyable as play, and 
thus to give the most enthusiastic and vigorous exercise. 
The pupil who has little zest or interest gains but a 
small part of the possible benefit. Some one has said: 
"Play is food, gymnastics are medicine." But gymnastics 
are necessary as well as play. First of all, it is impossible 
in our larger cities to find playgrounds adequate to the 
needs of the great multitudes of children. In severe 
weather outdoor play is difficult or impossible. Time 
is often an important element. During the recess some 
of the smaller and weaker children who most need the 
exercise do not join in the games. As the boy and girl 
grow older, they may cease to play, and spend their free 
hours moping over books. Hence for many gymnastics 
are absolutely essential. 

Even the child who plays vigorously and freely needs 
gymnastic training also. For he plays longest and most 
frequently the games in which he excels, and neglects 
the weaker muscles. Much of this danger can be avoided 
on the playground by careful and wise supervision. But 
even this rarely goes to the very root of the difficulty. 



220 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

A clumsy or ungraceful movement is always a sign o£ 
injudicious or wrong use of muscles. Few men and 
women walk or run gracefully. For this art we rely on 
the gymnastics of the dancing-class. 

In selecting a system of gymnastics we must often 
impose upon the child movements or actions which he 
would not choose for himself. Hence we must be care- 
ful in our choice of exercises. What the child instinct- 
ively chooses will almost certainly be of some or con- 
siderable benefit to him. What we choose for him may 
do him harm. What is good at one period of life may 
be harmful at another. Running is hardly to be encour- 
aged after middle life, nor feats of endurance in early 
youth. When gymnasia first came into use the narrow- 
chested boy was allowed to exercise on the parallel bars 
to broaden his chest. Later it was asserted that this 
exercise most strengthened the muscles which pull the 
shoulders forward, and that pulling the weights was 
much better for such cases. In selecting an exercise or 
system of exercises we must think very carefully just 
what we wish to accomplish, and then observe sharply 
whether the exercise is producing the desired results. 
The exercise must be suited in character, quantity, and 
quality to the age and needs of the pupil. 

Exercises may be classified as to quantity as gentle, 
moderate, or violent. When gymnastics were first intro- 
duced, every one supposed that exercises which required 
a severe effort would give the greatest amount of 
strength. It was soon discovered that the muscles 
developed far more rapidly with very light clubs or 
dumb-bells. These stimulated nerve and muscles suffi- 
ciently, caused a rapid circulation of the blood, and pro- 
moted growth without causing exhaustion or too great 



PHYSICAL TRAINING — GYMNASTICS 221 

destruction of material or tissue. The little girl skip- 
ping rope lifts lier body several inches perhaps one 
hundred times in a minute. If she keeps it up for five 
minutes she has lifted her body over one hundred and 
fifty feet, a large amount of work. She does a little at 
a time and repeats it frequently. 

A second classification mentioned by Lagrange is of 
interest to us. He divides exercise into three groups 
according as they promote strength, speed, or endurance. 
The same exercise which will promote speed may or may 
not promote endurance. 

We are considering exercise in its relation to the 
growth and development of the child. We cannot ex- 
pect that any one of these three qualities will be highly 
developed during childhood or early youth. We must 
regard exercise more in its hygienic aspects. We have 
already noticed that some movements require very little 
nervous expenditure, while others are more exhausting 
to the nervous than to the muscular system. Thus 
fencing and very complicated evolutions in marching 
require the closest attention and are nervous even more 
than muscular exercises. The exercises of the child 
during school hours should be largely recreative, though 
not entirely so. Very complicated marching evolutions, 
difficult and precise movements of hands and arms 
may furnish little relief to the fatigue of study. Yet 
these may be very valuable in their time and place. On 
the other hand, mere automatic exercises, which can be 
performed without thinking about them, may not suf- 
ficiently divert the girl in school or college who is pre- 
paring for a difficult examination. Here complicated 
movements may be better, and the frolic of play the 
best use of the time. Once again, the play must be 



222 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

suited to the age, condition, and needs of tlie pupil. 
No iron-clad system can always meet new needs, 
changes, and emergencies. 

Many exercises which increase chest-girth do so 
largely by increasing the muscles of the chest ; thus, 
parallel bars and chest weights. As Lagrange says, 
lung capacity must be increased mainly from within. 
Hence the advantages not only of running, swimming, 
and bicycling, but of singing and shouting. Ordinary 
light exercises in high altitudes often markedly increase 
the capacity of the lungs and thus the girth of the 
chest. The child with narrow chest and small lungs is 
often disinclined to join in active play or to take the 
exercise which he sadly needs. The condition of such 
children may grow worse instead of better, and they 
fall a prey to consumption or sink in invalidism. Here 
gymnastics are an invaluable and necessary corrective. 
Anything which prevents free breathing, like adenoid 
growths, hypertrophy of the tonsils, or catarrh, hinders 
the full expansion of the lungs and prevents their full 
development. Here, of course, the physical trainer 
needs the help of the physician. 

The skin of the child or man who keeps in perfect 
physical condition is firm and fresh, the eye is bright 
and clear, the tissues are hard and firm. There is every 
appearance of strength and vitality. Even fatigue, as 
Treves says, brings no pain to him, but a full enjoy- 
ment of rest, by which he is refreshed and made ready 
for the joy of further activity. The improved physical 
condition is apparent in the carriage. Awkwardness of 
movement is usually a sign of lack of coordination of 
the muscles, sometimes of ill-developed joints. The 
muscles are not under the perfect control which exacts 



PHYSICAL TRAINING — GYMNASTICS 223 

from each the amount and kind of action suited to the 
movement. They oppose and hamper one another to an 
abnormal extent. The seat of the difficulty is usually 
in the nervous system, but the remedy must be applied 
through the muscles. 

A proper system of gymnastics trains the child or 
youth to perform each movement properly in its turn. 
It begins with the simplest and ends with the most 
complex. Only those muscles which are needed for the 
action are used, the others are not allowed to interfere. 
The action is repeated until it is performed automatic- 
ally. This results in great economy and saving of 
muscular and stiU more of nervous energy ; and waste 
of nervous energy is the worst of all dissipations. 
Everything is done with apparent ease, and this is the 
first element of grace of action and movement. 

The same control gives endurance. The conscious- 
ness of vigor and power gives courage, calmness, and 
zest in difficult undertakings. It saves the continual 
output of effort, which always involves an expenditure 
of energy disproportionate to the results. We rarely 
do anything well until we do it easily and joyfully. AU 
normal activity gives pleasure. 

Hence in the stress and strain of adult life the weU- 
trained athlete has a great advantage. He feels himself 
equal to each new task, and finishes it well without 
hurry or fret. He knows that he can carry the burden 
of the day, and wastes no energy in worry. His calm- 
ness and courage help all his fellows. At the end of 
the day he has not expended nearly as much nervous 
energy, and still has accomplished far more than the 
weaker man who has been fidgeting and worrying a 
large part of the time. 



224 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

Only such a man can really enjoy life. Only lie can 
understand the meaning of President Eliot's expression, 
the " enjoyment of work." He has reduced the labor of 
life to a minimum, even work is largely play to him. 
It is not too much to say that such a man has doubled 
his reserve of strength and halved his expenditure. 

Such strong, healthy men and women, overflowing 
with vitality and strength, attract us. We like to work 
with them. They remind us of the figures in Claude 
Lorraine's pictures of a land where the hardest work is 
done with such ease and evident enjoyment that we 
wish to share in it. It is no wonder that we choose them 
for our leaders. Their faith, courage, and confidence 
are exceedingly infectious. We cannot help feeling that 
they are what we would and ought to be. 

The man with disordered liver, poor digestive and 
assimilative powers, small lungs, or weak heart, which 
seem at perpetual war with one another, or with a nerv- 
ous system as fussy and spasmodic as a gasoline engine, 
all explosion, noise, and noisomeness, — such a man 
is fit only to stay in the house, " a jest to all his foes, 
and to his friends a fear." For him there can be 
little rest or comfort until he " sleeps with his fathers." 
This condition should be impossible with a proper 
system of hygienic, developmental, and corrective gym- 
nastics. Is not such a system or branch of education 
the best possible investment of a part of the funds of 
city and state? Economy along this line is surely 
"penny wise, and pound foolish." 

But a proper system of gymnastics will only slowly 
find its way into many of our schools. The larger cities 
have realized its absolute necessity. But many or most 
of our smaller towns are slow to appreciate its import- 



PHYSICAL TRAINING — GYMNASTICS 225 

ance. Can the teacher do anything to temporarily 
mitigate the evil of its neglect in schools and grades 
where it is most needed? She can respectfully urge 
upon the superintendent the need of frequent pauses 
between the recitations in addition to a recess of rea- 
sonable length. Usually this is unnecessary, for the 
superintendent is usually more eager for such an ar- 
rangement than the teacher. The pauses should be 
utilized to the utmost. In fair weather the children can 
be driven out of doors, and told to run and play vigor- 
ously. Meanwhile the windows can be opened and the 
room thoroughly ventilated. If for any reason it is 
impracticable to clear the room, some of the windows 
can be opened. The children can stand in the aisles 
between the desks and there be taught to practice vigor- 
ously a few simple arm movements. Dr. Sargent gives 
a great variety of these, some of which may well be 
selected. Deep breathing may be practiced at the same 
time. The number and range of the movements can be 
gradually increased in spite of the hindrance to free 
motion caused by the desks. This requires time, prac- 
tice, and training. 

If this be done twice or more a day, it will at least 
remove the strain and cramp of continual sitting. It will 
call the blood from the congested brain to the cold hands 
and feet. During the other pauses the pupils may walk 
and chat, and thus gain rest and change. Such exercise 
will cost a few moments every day. But it will more 
than pay for the shortening of the recitations by the 
greater mental alertness and vigor of the pupils. The 
only disadvantage of this proceeding is that many will 
claim that this slight mitigation of evil is all the physical 
training that the child needs. It is better than nothing, 



226 GROWTH AND EDUCATIOISr 

but not good enough to become an enemy of tbe 
best. 

Every school should have its record of measurements 
of each pupil. This need not be extensive nor require 
much time or expensive apparatus. There should be a 
card for each pupil, with name and date of birth at the 
top. It should have a few vertical columns for success- 
ive annual or semiannual dates of measurement, weight, 
height, and lung capacity. Chest-girth might well be 
added. There should also be a final column showing 
the number of days' absence caused by sickness. A 
space at the bottom of the card might be reserved for 
the eyesight and hearing of the child. The test for eye- 
sight might well be nothing more than the ability to 
read print of a certain size at a certain distance. The 
only apparatus needed would be scales, a gauge for 
measuring height, and a spirometer. This would an- 
swer the needs of all the schools in a small town or vil- 
lage. The initial expense would be small and need not 
be repeated. The apparatus, with price-list and fuU 
directions for its use, is well described by Dr. Hastings 
in his excellent manual.^ 

The increase in weight and in lung capacity is an 
excellent basis for judgment of the vigor of the child. 
Rapid increase in height is usually accompanied by weak- 
ness and disorder, and prescribes care. Chest-girth is also 
a good criterion of vigor. The number of days' absence 
on account of sickness shows the tendencies of the child. 
The measurements should be compared with those given 
by Hastings for each age. Anything below his twenty- 
five per cent line should be considered very suspicious. 
If best a card could be given to each child falling below 

^ Manual for Physical Measurements. 



PHYSICAL TRAINING — GYMNASTICS 227 

tliis line showing the amount and character of his de- 
ficiency. Boys are usually, and girls are sometimes, 
ambitious in this respect ; and the deficiency would often 
be remedied by the child or by the directions of his 
parents. By the time the child had reached even the 
grammar grade the record would give a history of great 
value. 

Such measurements can be taken very rapidly, espe- 
cially if some of the older pupils of the high school could 
write down the measures as called by the teachers. It 
would require hardly more time than that expended on 
any written test of mental proficiency. The moral effect 
upon teacher and pupil would be excellent. It would 
impress upon them the fact that a symmetrical physical 
development is worthy of attention and effort, and that 
its value is appreciated by the school. As the child 
passed from grade to grade, each teacher at the begin- 
ning of the year would know the condition and history 
of every child, and would be prepared to show leniency 
or firmness, and to give a few hygienic suggestions. 

Such a record is not ideal in its fullness. It would be 
very incomplete. It is recommended as one which would 
give a large return for a very small expenditure of time 
and money, and which could easily be used by teachers 
in any small village. Other blank forms of greater 
extent and value are given by Dr. Hastings. 



CHAPTER XVI 

MANUAL TRAINING 

Play and gymnastics are educational, in that they 
promote healthy growth and development, self-control, 
poise, steadiness, decision, courage. Manual training is, 
or may be made, hygienic, a means of promoting health 
and muscular power. For this purpose it is inferior to 
play or gymnastics. It is really almost as pure mental 
training as the study of books. President Eliot has 
well said : " The human mind pervades the body. It 
is not in the head, but it is all over the body ; and when 
you train the hand, or the eye, or the ear, you train the 
mind." Governor Russell has said : " Manual training 
is mental training. In the skill of the artist's hand, in 
the methodical, accurate movement of the mechanic's 
arm, in the acute observation through the physician's 
eye or ear, there is always mind. Never admit that 
manual training is anything distinguished from, or in 
opposition to, mental training." 

We have seen that in play and gymnastics some move- 
ments and actions are very largely muscular, demanding 
little supervision or control from the cerebrum. They 
are performed automatically. Others, like fencing, are 
exercises of the brain or of the nervous system even 
more than of the muscle. Nearly all movements of the 
leg become automatic. Our arms, and especially our 
hands, are more richly innervated from far higher and 
more complex centres: they are capable of far higher 



MANUAL TRAINING 229 

education. Their development during thousands of 
years has kept pace and step with development of intel- 
ligence. Hand and mind are Siamese twins. The hand 
was intended to be used as the servant of the planning 
mind. Their centres in the brain stand in the closest re- 
lation with the highest areas of thought. Thus anatomy 
teaches that manual exercise cannot fail to develop 
mental power. 

The value of manual training as an aid to mental 
growth is now universally admitted. The experiments 
and observations of Dr. Wey upon the inmates of the 
New York State Reformatory are well known. The 
work was especially beneficial to those who were dull 
or deficient in simple arithmetic. " This defect," we 
are told, "can be entirely eradicated through manual 
processes, using tools as the agent of the cure." We 
are told further that this cure cannot be effected by 
the mere " indiscriminate tool manipulation " ; that the 
work must be carefully planned and taught, and no- 
thing accepted which falls short of being absolutely 
satisfactory. Of this class of inmates sixty per cent 
showed considerable or marked improvement under such 
training, while forty per cent remained unimproved. 
How many of these latter might have been improved if 
they had received the training earlier in life we have 
no means of knowing. 

The reports of truant and reform schools, and of 
schools for defectives, are equally favorable, often en- 
thusiastic. The testimony of superintendents and 
teachers in our best city schools is to the same effect. 
The system seems to benefit all classes, rich and poor, 
cultured and uncultivated. This is only what we might 
confidently expect. What better purely mental disci- 



230 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

pline can be imagined than the close observation and 
accurate perception, the judgment and planning, the 
coordination of hand, eye, and brain, involved in the 
simplest work with wood or iron, or even with card- 
board. 

Ask a teacher of science to give up laboratory work, 
and he wiU tell you that teaching is impossible without 
it. The student can learn the laws, read and memorize 
the descriptions of machines and experiments, and see 
these in the lectures. But this is not enough. The boy 
must try the experiment for himself. This fixes and 
concentrates the wandering thoughts, and deepens the 
impression. Anything practical and practicable is 
never clearly seen or reaUy understood by the pupil 
imtil he has seen it and done it for himself. The lab- 
oratory method is being more and more extended, and 
applied to all studies. And manual training is becom- 
ing the means of applying the laboratory method to 
just as many school studies as possible. Already maps 
are not only drawn, but modeled in relief. Thus geo- 
graphy has its laboratory as well as chemistry. The 
breadth of the possible application of the laboratory 
method is only beginning to dawn upon us. When 
eye, hand, and brain all work together upon a pro- 
blem, the result of the combined study is far more than 
three times as great as if any one of them works alone. 
We never have really seen an object until we have 
attempted to draw it ; much less do we understand 
a process which we have never attempted to perform. 
Manual training should be the study not only of school- 
books, but of all the activities of life, by the laboratory 
method. 

Furthermore, the boy who recites a lesson in gram- 



MANUAL TRAINING 231 

mar or arithmetic " somewhere near right," is usually 
contented with his success. One word is as good as 
another to him, especially when the whole statement is 
meaningless. But one who makes a box, or even folds 
a paper, so that corners or edges are not true is laughed 
at by all his comrades. School sentiment condemns and 
ridicules poor manual work as it never will mistakes in 
recitation. 

As this use of manual training is universally ad- 
mitted, we can turn our attention to a second even 
greater advantage, some of whose aspects have not 
received the notice which they deserve. President 
Walker once said : " There was nothing in the old order 
[of education] which tended to direct and develop the 
executive faculty ; the power, that is, of doing things 
as distinguished from thinking about them, talking 
about them, writing about them. No one familiar with 
the laws of mind will be disposed to deny that there is 
at least a tendency in the protracted study of any sub- 
ject, apart from putting that study to a practical use, 
toward producing a partial paralysis of the wiU, shown 
in a disposition to procrastinate, to multiply distinctions, 
and to stand shivering on the brink of action. Finally, 
the school studies of that age gave no play to that con- 
structive passion which is inherent in every healthy 
child's mind ; — a passion so strong that it is readily per- 
verted through lack of opportunity and exercise, into 
the passion for destruction, just as any good thing is 
susceptible of perversion into an agency of evil or mis- 
chief." 

It may or may not be a disgrace to the scholar or 
learned man that he cannot realize his conceptions in 
action. It is certainly a great misfortune to him and 



232 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

to tlie public. And our schools and families should 
certainly aim to produce men and women of power and 
dexterity in action as well as in thouglit and logic. 
When men and women have become so busy in think- 
ing and discussing, that they can no longer act and 
execute, the state is in great danger. The Athens 
where men " spent their time in nothing else but either 
to tell or to hear some new thing," was degenerate and 
senile; and not much later its schools of philosophy 
were closed because their vaporings were no longer 
worth hearing. 

It has been said that one half of the food brought 
into our cities is wasted by the consumer by bad meth- 
ods of preparation. A large percentage of the fuel 
used in our kitchens goes the same way. Good cooking 
would do more to prevent drinking among the labor- 
ing classes than all the chapters on temperance in our 
physiologies. In how many of the schools in our smaller 
country towns is cooking taught ? Canned vegetables 
are sold in farming communities, if not to farmers. 
The school is not responsible for this state of affairs. 
But if school and parents can remedy the evil without 
any detriment to the intellectual development of the 
child, but rather with advantage, it certainly should 
do so. 

The demand is continually arising from many quarters 
that our education should be made more practical. The 
word " practical " admits of many different shades of 
meaning. It may mean that far more emphasis should 
be laid in our schools on work which will prepare the 
boy and girl to earn a living. This is not an unreason- 
able demand if it does not interfere with teaching them 
how to live well also. If it means that the study which 



MANUAL TRAINING 233 

bears directly on the highest success in life is better 
than one which influences our life only very indirectly 
and remotely, the claim for the most practical education 
is certainly well founded. 

In all our schools we devote many hours to anatomy, 
physiology, and hygiene. These studies are of the 
utmost importance, for they affect directly the welfare 
of every individual. But the lessons are almost always 
forgotten. They do not find anything in the child's 
mind or conscious needs to which they may attach them- 
selves. The child in the cooking-class learns and sees 
and never forgets that bad food is unfit to eat and that 
well-prepared food is delicious. She soon finds that the 
study furnishes abundant opportunity for the most care- 
ful thought. It is a disciplinary study. Is it neglected 
in our country schools because it is not needed, or 
because most of us think that cooking is a business 
which requires little brains and that it would degrade 
the school to devote money, time, and energy to so base 
a pursuit? Work in the chemical laboratory is highly 
respected and appreciated. Is similar work in learning 
to properly prepare food so as to sustain and lengthen 
life any less honorable or beneficent ? How many girls 
go from school to shop or store, and then marry, and 
proceed through their ignorance to destroy the stomachs 
of their children and to drive their husbands to drink ? 
Poor teaching in language, mathematics, or history is 
a disgrace. But sewing and cooking can be omitted from 
the curriculum of the schools in our small towns and 
villages without a word of protest from anybody. Very 
similar questions could be asked about the course of 
study for the boy. Have we not a lurking prejudice 
that anything like cooking, gardening, carpentering, or 



234 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

any form of woodwork, which can be made of direct use 
in our daily life, ought on that account to be carefully 
kept out of our schools ? 

Even where manual training is provided, the boy or 
girl who expects to go to college has not time or oppor- 
tunity for the study. When are these boys and girls 
to be taught to do something beside fumble over their 
books? Will they learn after they leave college, when 
their muscles have hardened and stiffened beyond all 
possibility of acquiring craftsmanship ? Or is the 
home responsible for all this? Shall we ever respect 
these arts, sciences, and crafts until we dignify them 
by careful study and find how much opportunity for 
the keenest thought and most skillful action they con- 
tinually afford? Does not our system of education 
tend to train boys and girls to be equally proud of 
their knowledge of Latin and of their ignorance of the 
necessary and grand work of daily life ? Is not such 
training immoral ? 

We respect others for being able to do what we have 
studied and attempted, and admired, and have tried to 
do for ourselves and only partially succeeded. There is 
to-day a deplorable lack of respect for skill, ingenuity, 
and dexterity in manual work. Joy in work should be 
cultivated in every possible way. What the laborer needs 
and rightfully demands is not charity nor sympathy, 
but respect. Respect for skilled manual work wiU do 
more to destroy the hard feeling between classes and 
to maintain true democracy than all the fourth-of-July 
orations. Jules Ferry declared that the ennoblement 
of manual work was the great object of France in reor- 
ganizing her system ; and that the only practical way to 
teach the nobility of manual work was to give it a place 



MANUAL TRAINING 235 

In the school itself. Now manual training is no cure-all 
for mental, moral, and social evils. If we expect the 
impossible from it, we will surely be disappointed, and 
then we will probably lay the blame on the study. Our 
question is. How much may we fairly and reasonably 
hope from it ? 

In our study of " interests " we noticed that children 
between seven and ten or eleven are greatly interested 
in trades and manual work. They wish to be carpen- 
ters, engineers, farmers, dressmakers, etc. They have at 
this age a strong instinct to do, make, and create. Real 
life appeals to them. This is one great advantage of 
the kindergarten, that the child is living a real life in 
an almost ideal community instead of preparing by 
study of dry abstractions for one which is so far away 
that it does not appeal to him. The child wishes to 
make something which will be of real use and service 
to contribute to the family. He wishes to help. 

If this creative, executive, helping instinct is not 
gratified, the boy begins to lose interest in books and 
study, and profits little. The father thinks that he is 
wasting his time and gaining nothing. When he is 
twelve or thirteen, he is taken from the school and put 
into a shop or factory. This is the time when he should 
begin to appreciate his studies and to gain most from 
them. In the shop the boy no longer idles. He is in- 
terested, he has " waked up." Boys sent from the best 
city schools because of persistent truancy to truant 
schools where a liberal amount of manual and indus- 
trial training is given, become attentive and amenable 
to discipline, and sometimes improve so markedly that 
on their return they are promoted to a class higher than 
the one they left. 



236 GROWTH AND EDUCATION^ 

Such a boy, or almost any boy, is given the opportun- 
ity to do some handwork in the school. He is inter- 
ested at once. It appeals to a natural instinct, as arith- 
metic and geography cannot do. He is set to making 
a box. The interest arouses his will as no external 
pressure could. He soon finds that he cannot finish 
it in a moment or an hour. It is a more complex 
and difficult matter than he had thought. He must 
" buckle down to it," make his preparations, measure- 
ments, calculations. This not only stimulates the will, 
but gives him the power of sustained effort, the great- 
est blessing to any boy or man. He finds that a mis- 
take at any point in the preparation may spoil the 
whole work. He grows careful, looks ahead, takes pains. 
Is there any better training for giving him a strong 
and sound wiU, which is the foundation of all moral de- 
velopment? And is there any better mental training 
than his accurate, painstaking observation, calculation, 
and work? Making the box reminds him of something 
else which he would like to do, something finer or more 
difficult. He is roused to a new and greater effort, 
which results in mental growth and strength. He makes 
himself work, and enjoys it. You can, perhaps, make 
him work at his books. But as soon as the external 
pressure is removed, he ceases his efforts. You are 
reaUy only putting moral shoulder-braces on him, which 
will leave him weaker than he was before, instead of 
strengthening his muscles. The results of manual train- 
ing are of permanent value. 

Very likely the boy is making the box for his father 
or mother. It is his first tangible contribution, perhaps, 
to the comfort and welfare of the family. The ex- 
perience results in an appreciation of his own possible 



MANUAL TRAINING 237 

worth and usefulness, as well as in stronger love for his 
parents. 

The boy who has some such training during five or 
six of the formative years of his life will never rest 
content with dreams and abstract concepts. The in- 
stinct to realize his conceptions and ideals will remain 
alive and powerful, instead of having aborted and died 
through lack of exercise. He will never see carpenter, 
blacksmith, or mechanic doing a fine piece of work with- 
out appreciating it, gaining enjoyment and giving pleas- 
ure at the same time. He will respect honest work and 
appreciate the effort which it requires. He will recog- 
nize shams, and flimsy and cheap products, and have 
little respect for idleness or incompetence. The grand 
cathedrals of Europe were reared by artisans who loved, 
and appreciated, and did, honest and fine work. 

Manual training is most needed perhaps by the chil- 
dren of the well to do and cultured. But its results will 
be most and most quickly apparent in those of a differ- 
ent class. Mr. Adler tells us that children fall into one 
of two great classes. There are some who are quick with 
their books as we say, and who enjoy them. They learn 
words easily, and have a gift of using them. Then there 
are other boys to whom the book is a burden, and a 
composition or essay almost as much of a torment as 
it is to the teacher who has to correct it. Such a boy 
often finds it almost impossible to memorize the pages 
of lessons which are assigned to him. He will almost 
surely lose interest in school work of the ordinary kind. 
He is a trial to his teacher, who is tempted to consider 
him a dunce, and he grows hopeless and careless. He 
escapes from school as soon as he can. 

Yet this boy will often do excellent work in drawing 



238 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

or modeling, in handling wood or iron. The fact that 
even he can do something well, or better than all the 
others, and thus win the praise of his teacher and parents 
and the respect of his comrades is a discovery of inesti- 
mable value to him. He can do one thing well and now 
he has some courage to attempt others. He has waked 
up, has " found himself," has discovered his possibilities. 
He becomes a new boy. He is no longer a detriment to 
the school and the worry of his teacher. 

Such a boy, indeed nearly all boys, will accomplish 
more learning, if they devote a part of their time to 
manual training than if they spend the whole of the 
school hours poring or dreaming over their books. 

Evidently one, if not the chief, purpose of education 
is to enable us to express clearly our best thoughts and 
conceptions. Grammar, composition, and some other 
studies are valuable mainly or entirely as they make us 
masters of the art of verbal expression. But thought 
and learning, personality and character still more, can 
be expressed far more effectively in deeds than in words. 
The painter of portraits or landscapes has his place as 
well as the biographer or poet. The practical inventor 
is needed at least as much as the scientific student or 
investigator. When the investigator can apply his re- 
sults, his usefulness to society is more than doubled. 
The doer of the word is far more effective than the 
preacher or orator. 

Why should not expression through handwork be as 
worthy of cultivation as rhetorical expression through 
words? If the child can be trained and become accus- 
tomed to express his thoughts in both ways rather than 
in one, will it not conduce to clearness and accuracy of 
perception and concept ? Will it not develop and train 



MANUAL TRAINING 239 

that finest and highest power, the scientific imagina- 
tion, which is often stunted or destroyed by our study 
of books and words ? 

Hence the best educators have always insisted on the 
principle of some such variety. Horace Mann said that 
if teachers would give one half of the school-hours to 
creating a desire to learn, more would be accomplished 
than by giving all the time to book-work. Froebel in- 
sisted on the importance of alternating study and work. 
Nowhere has this been more fully and advantageously 
emphasized than in Jewish education. Says the Tal- 
mud : " The study of the law without occupation of 
labor will finally be interrupted and end in sin." " The 
father who does not teach his child a trade brings hira 
up to be a robber." Let us not forget that Spinoza 
made spectacles, and that Paul was a tent-maker. We 
must be careful not to confuse manual and industrial 
training. Each has its place. That any nation which 
is striving for the first place in art and commerce 
should fail to recognize the absolute necessity of both 
is almost incredible. Industrial training is for the boy 
or girl who has already decided to follow a life of 
manual or industrial work in some special craft or 
trade. Its tendency is toward specialization as really 
as is that of law or medicine. It is intended to aid the 
worker to the greatest success or proficiency in one 
line. Manual training is intended to develop the pow- 
ers for any situation in fife. Its effect is to broaden 
the mind and to open doors to new possibilities and 
careers. It is a valuable preparation for technical or 
industrial training, but equally beneficial to the man 
who will never handle a tool in after-life. Indeed the 
student needs it more than the artisan. 



240 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

It is equally useful to the girl, and perhaps she needs 
it even more than the boy. Female teachers are some- 
times criticised because they do not feel, and hence 
cannot teach, the connection between the information 
of the daily lesson and life outside of the school. Hence 
their instruction is likely to be wordy and bookish. 
The criticism may be unfounded. But the education 
of our girls to-day leads us to fear that it may well 
be true. The most that the average girl learns of 
life during her school years is at most a little of the 
drudgery of housework. Home-making has never been 
sufficiently studied to be considered an art, much less a 
science. Of other forms and kinds of work the girl learns 
nothing. She cannot reasonably be expected to teach 
that of which she has never had any experience, or 
which she has never had the opportunity even to ob- 
serve. As long as teaching remains practically mere 
instruction, it will be the only field open, and the most 
attractive, to those men and women who are totally 
devoid of actual, experimental knowledge of everyday 
life and work. 

If this is true to any extent of our teachers it is 
probably true also of most girls who do not go into the 
normal school but to coUege, or who return home at the 
close of the high-school course. If her executive ability 
and power to plan a piece of work have never been tested 
or developed, if she has never even learned that work 
must be planned, she finds the cares of a household an 
exceedingly difficult problem, not to say a heavy bur- 
den. Now she must plan, calculate, administer, and direct. 
The great wonder is that the American girl succeeds 
as well as she does under circumstances for which her 
education and most of her home training have unfitted 



MANUAL TRAINING 241 

her. Here is a problem which taxes the most vigorous 
thought and keenest ingenuity of parents, teachers, and 
educators. If our lower grades, and most of the classes 
in the higher ones, are to be taught by young women, 
the problem must be solved, or the rising generation 
will suffer harm. 

But manual training must be skillfully and wisely 
adapted to the age and abilities of the pupils. That 
which is exceedingly interesting to the child in kinder- 
garten may prove stale and unprofitable to the gram- 
mar grade or even the primary class. The kindergarten 
teachers have solved their problem fairly weU. It remains 
to discover by experiment and careful thought just 
what exercises will be most profitable in every higher 
grade. There would seem to be no reason why work in 
bending iron could not be widely introduced with much 
profit. Even the folding and pasting of paper so as to 
make various forms of solid geometry might be useful. 

But the growing boy and girl demand more resistent 
material. Gardening may not be manual training in 
the exact sense of the word. But what it lacks in this 
direction is compensated by the aesthetic development 
and love of nature which it stimulates to so high a degree. 
Especially in our small country schools in poor neigh- 
borhoods the teacher may well venture now and then 
to try an experiment which seems to be suited to the 
needs of the community. If it does not realize her ideal, 
or satisfy all her wishes, it wiU be vastly better than 
nothing. 



CHAPTEK XVII 

RETROSPECT AND SUMMARY 

At the risk of some or mucli repetition we may now 
turn back and trace the general line of the results of 
our study of the physical growth and development of the 
child. 

The strain of modern life makes it essential that we 
should fortify him far more to-day than was necessary 
one hundred or even fifty years ago. Perfect physical 
health is an absolute necessity. Unless every part is 
"of equal strength and in smooth working order," 
most of our vital energy is used to overcome internal 
resistance, or dissipates in fret and worry. We need 
all the buoyancy, courage, and hope which come from 
the consciousness of vigor. Health is impossible with- 
out a full development of all the vital organs : stomach, 
heart, and lungs, as well as brain. 

We have seen that these vital visceral organs orig- 
inated in response to the demands and stimuli of the 
developing muscular system, before mind and brain 
were on the throne. They can be developed only 
through physical exercise in hygienic surroundings. 
Health can be maintained by the adult only through 
vigorous muscular exercise in the open air. Much 
more is the same exercise essential to its attainment. 
The period when our internal organs most need such 
exercise, and best respond to it by healthy growth, ex- 
tends through infancy and childhood. 



RETROSPECT AND SUMMARY 243 

Our brief study of embryology has taught us that 
during these earlier years we must heed and follow 
Nature's suggestions. The same is probably true of 
adult life as well, but here Nature's requirements are 
not always as clear and explicit. 

Nature evidently requires of the infant and young 
child that it should grow as fast and as far as possible. 
Growth is the primary and chief essential. It should 
be made the chief business of these years, for without 
it development is impossible. This is so self-evident 
that we often forget it. A little more growth may, and 
often does, make all the difference between the average 
man and the leader of extraordinary physical, mental, 
and moral strength and ability. Every organ should be 
allowed time for its stage of pure growth, and should 
receive exercise only when it craves it, and not before. 
We must not attempt still further to hurry Nature 
when she is already hastening the process of develop- 
ment just as far as is safe. We allow the baby's legs to 
grow and gain strength before we permit or encourage 
him to walk. We should certainly be equally cautious 
and wise with the most complex and delicate portions 
of the child's brain. When the organ begins to crave 
exercise, we should furnish suitable kinds and amounts 
fitted to the stage of growth and development, and 
varied from year to year as maturity hastens on. To 
deny an exercise which the body craves and needs to- 
day, and substitute for this one which is suited to a 
later stage or to a different organ, involves both loss and 
harm. 

The chief business of the educator viewed from this 
standpoint is to find the stage of growth and develop- 
ment of each organ at each year or epoch of life, and 



244 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

tlien to furnisli the kinds and amounts of exercise 
which will best promote growth and development at 
that epoch. For certain organs during infancy we can 
do little more than make conditions favorable and 
remove hindrances and dangers. During the sensory 
epoch we will provide material and occupation to exer- 
cise the sense-organs. When the muscular crave exer- 
cise we will satisfy them, and thus promote their 
development and that of all the organs dependent upon 
them. When at ten or twelve the logical powers of 
thought and reasoning begin to betray their need of 
exercise through awakening interests and questions, we 
will follow them. We will not ask that the child 
should think or act as a man, or try to impose upon him 
methods or systems of training suited only to the adult 
body and mind. We will remember that his constitu- 
tion undergoes marked changes at successive epochs of 
life. 

If this reasoning is correct, and it seems to be only 
the dictate of the plainest common sense, always known 
but not fully recognized and realized, it is clear that 
physical development is the chief business of the young 
child both at school and at home. For few really men- 
tal interests appear until some years later. It is per- 
haps too much to ask that up to this age play should 
form the largest part of his school duties. It should 
certainly be given a large place, and its importance and 
value cannot easily be overestimated. 

That some form of ph5^sical exercise is equally essen- 
tial to the health and development of the boy and girl 
during the critical and all-important pubertal years is 
evident to any one who has made even a superficial 
study of this period. The high rate of morbidity due 



RETROSPECT AND SUMMARY 245 

largely to the condition of the blood overloaded with 
the waste products of organic growth and readjustment, 
is proof positive of the need of abundant exercise in the 
open air. The rapid increase of vital capacity between 
the ages of nine and fourteen in girls who have gym- 
nastics, as well as its small and irregular increase in 
the average girl, is a demonstration of her needs. 
When her future happiness, health, and usefulness de- 
pend upon her successful development and metamor- 
phosis during these trying years of accelerated growth 
in height, is it too much to say that failure to satisfy 
this need of exercise is nothing less than criminal neg- 
ligence ? Even in the high school hygienic and devel- 
opmental training are still needed to mature and harden 
the tissues. Still we must bear in mind and guard 
against the rising death-rate at nineteen and twenty, the 
final result of failure to pass Nature's examinations. 
The exercise must be adequate in quantity as well as 
in kind. Two haK-hours in the week for all forms of 
physical exercise are a mockery of the child's needs. 
In many of our schools that which may possibly be 
a little better than nothing is often the worst foe of 
that which is good and right. It is not best to soothe 
our consciences when we are failing to do our clear and 
evident duty. 

But some will possibly still maintain that all this is 
the duty of the home, and that the school is in no way 
responsible for the physical part of education. It is true 
that the home should do far more for the health and 
vigor than it is now doing. We parents are not suf- 
ficiently awake to our duties and responsibilities in this 
and in some other directions. But, especially during 
childhood, vigorous exercise is needed frequently and 



246 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

in small doses. The school session occupies more hours 
than the child should spend without frequent change of 
position and opportunity to change the direction of the 
circulation of the blood. This should often be drawn 
from the gorged brain to the hands and feet, especially 
during puberty. A short recess, often wasted in dawd- 
ling, is no sufficient relief. But this is not the most 
important reason for pleading for liberal physical exer- 
cise during school hours. 

Fifty years ago three partners were responsible for 
the education of the child. These were the farm, the 
home, and the school. On the farm the child enjoyed 
an abundance of open air and of physical training 
suited to his age and needs. Every farm was a hive of 
manual training. Nature study was compulsory; school 
gardens were entirely unnecessary. Almost as soon as 
the child could walk he had his work and duties. These 
were no artificial exercises prepared with much thought 
and ingenuity. They came to him necessarily from the 
conditions of his life. He did a boy's work as soon 
as he could, and aspired to do that of a man. He was 
a partner in the household, his help was needed and had 
value ; and he usually willingly accepted the responsi- 
bility. He learned to make his own toys or to go without 
them. He learned to meet new emergencies day by day. 
He was compelled to be seK-reliant, resourceful, ingen- 
ious, as well as economical, industrious, patient, and 
persevering. The short term of study gave him a suf- 
ficient acquaintance with books so that he was always 
hungry for more. What he had learned during the three 
months of winter he remembered, reviewed, thought 
over, and assimilated during the remainder of the year. 
This system provided for a symmetrical physical and 



RETROSPECT AND SUMMARY 247 

mental growth and development, and for gain in power 
and efficiency, 

We hear much of the debt of our fathers to the 
" little red school-house," and the .school deserves nearly- 
all the good and some of the bad which has been said 
about it. But the debt of New England to the farm as 
a means of education has never beeii properly and suffi- 
ciently recognized. Many who owe most of their success 
to its hard training remember only its shadows and de- 
privations. Had farm life persisted, our present system 
and schools would meet the needs of the child fully 
and excellently. But this most advantageous partner- 
ship has been dissolved ; and for the present, at least, we 
cannot hope to renew it. Even where the farm remains, 
the life and atmosphere, though beneficent, is not what 
it was one hundred years ago. Most of us live in towns 
or cities. Here it is almost impossible for us to find 
needed and useful manual work for our children to do. 
Many of the tasks which we assign are imposed arti- 
ficially rather than a natural outgrowth of healthy and 
necessary conditions. The boy and girl have but a very 
small share in the duties and responsibilities of the 
household. Even these few duties are performed under 
the eyes and direction of the parent, and give little 
opportunity for initiative, resource, or ingenuity. Almost 
their only industry is study. 

The diffusion of wealth has removed from many the 
spur of necessity, and has led them to think that the 
world owes them not only a living but the luxuries of 
life. Many expect to be fortunate enough some day to 
get something or a good deal for nothing. The new con- 
ditions, and some of the evil results, are not the fault of 
the parents. The loss of the opportunities furnished by 



248 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

the farm has greatly decreased the educational efficiency 
of the home. And the decrease is of a kind which most 
surely and directly affects the will and character of the 
child. 

Of the three members of the original educational 
partnership, one has retired, a second has lost severely 
in efficiency through the withdrawal of the first, and 
the third remains with vastly increased burdens and re- 
sponsibilities. But home and school must in some way 
compensate for the loss of the farm. Otherwise the 
next generation will surely fail to equal the record of 
the past, much less to surpass it. This work of com- 
pensation will tax all the powers of both home and 
school. They must work together and earnestly. Neither 
one can be allowed to throw its share of the new bur- 
den on the shoulders of the other. There is more than 
enough work for both. 

Under these circumstances it is not strange that we 
hear criticisms of the results of our system of education. 
These are often too sweeping and severe. The child 
of to-day probably reads, spells, and ciphers as well as 
his grandfather could at his age. Some of us have for- 
gotten the deficiencies and failures of our childhood. 
But when the business man complains that the boy of 
to-day is lacking in perseverance, resource, ingenuity, 
and efficiency, we have reason to fear that there is 
some ground for his complaint. 

A teacher at a training-school said : " Give me country 
girls for my classes. They have red blood and will not 
balk." Such red-blooded pupils who are ready to 
grapple with any task or problem are already educated 
in some most important mental and moral respects. 
The presence of such pupils gives a tone and atmo- 



RETROSPECT AND SUMMARY 249 

sphere to a class which cannot be spared. Yet is it 
fair to expect that the average town-bred pupil will 
show all these traits which are the product of totally 
different conditions during early life ? Will the blood 
be as red in the child whose only duty is "to eat his 
meals" as in one who lives and works in the open air 
from one end of the day and year to the other ? 

The school year has already doubled or trebled in 
length, and more and better books and courses of study 
have been added. The course has certainly been greatly, 
perhaps too much, enriched. But all this increase of 
book-work and of learning does not meet the difficulty 
which we are considering ; it probably increases it. Es- 
pecially in the lower grades the child is kept over his 
books longer than he should be. We overexercise his 
brain, while we cramp his muscles. The result is that 
he learns to dislike books, and to form the worst possible 
habits of study. These habits often become so fixed as 
to be practically unchangeable. In the schools of many 
of our towns and cities the child is engaged in mental 
work nearly throughout the session ; at least, he is sup- 
posed to be so busied. Yet often he acquires no more 
learning than the child who goes to school only one half 
the day. He probably learns much less than the aver- 
age child would under the system of the industrial 
schools where outdoor work and manual training oc- 
cupy a large part of the time. 

He has almost no time to assimilate what he learns. 
He would be in great danger of mental dyspepsia from 
the cramming process, if he were not saved from this fate 
by speedily forgetting most of what he has acquired. If 
one third to one half of the time now devoted to book 
work were given to play, gymnastics, school-gardens, etc., 



250 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

the child would probably learn more than he does now. 
He would work with far less weariness and fatigue, and 
with far greater interest and enthusiasm. 

The advantages to the mental powers of such a 
change through the increased physical stamina of the 
child are evident. We remember Schmid-Monnard's 
telling us that the growth of the German child is always 
lessened and sometimes completely arrested during the 
first year of school life. He emphasizes the danger to 
the youngest and most precocious children, and tells us 
that a larger proportion of these drop out by the way. 
When we arrest growth we strike at the root of all 
possible future development, as well as of power and 
efficiency. We can hardly appreciate the advantages 
which would result from replacing a system which ham- 
pers growth by one which favors and fosters it. Every 
ounce of strength and vitality gained during infancy and 
early childhood increases at compound interest during 
each successive year. 

If we make the fullest possible use of the years 
between six and ten or eleven to store up material and 
strength against the pubertal metamorphosis, we insure 
the child against heavy loss at this trying period. Gil- 
bert's observations lead us to suspect that the increase 
of the girl's lung capacity by suitable exercise during 
these years would far more than compensate for the 
time used in this way. The greater vigor and power of 
the well-oxygenated brain would more than make up 
for the loss of time. We do not know to what extent 
morbidity might be decreased. We know only that we 
should thus remove one of its most fruitful causes or 
occasions. And we know that at this time the ounce of 
prevention is worth many pounds of cure. 



EETROSPECT AND SUMMARY 251 

If we could bring our boys and girls into tbe liigh 
school in perfect physical condition, with interest unim- 
paired or increased, and with good habits of study, they 
could probably accomplish more than they do now and 
still have time for the manual training and gymnastics 
which are so much needed. 

If manual and physical training are profitable to the 
average boy and girl, they are absolutely essential to the 
children of our business and professional classes, and 
to all those who have any congenital tendencies toward 
nervous weakness or disease. Such children are often 
of great mental promise, and should be saved and 
strengthened for the service of the community and the 
state. They are far more numerous than we suspect. 
Under the present system the school cannot possibly do 
all that it might and should to increase their physical, 
and thus their mental, stamina. 

Thus far we have considered education only as a 
means of increasing learning. But this is its least 
important element. Physical and manual training would 
give a better and more complete discipline, and hence 
a more athletic mind. The best method of increasing 
muscular strength is by periods of active exercise alter- 
nating with those of rest or of complete change. An 
hour a day properly used in vigorous athletic exercise 
will produce a larger amount of stronger muscle than 
a half day's steady work sawing wood. The men who 
do the most hard and heavy work are not always the 
strongest. Frequently they are surpassed in strength 
and endurance by the athlete who has done less and 
lighter work, but who has thrown every ounce of will 
and vigor into the exercise. The same law applies to 
mental development. But the higher mental centres 



252 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

are far less mature during the years of rapid growtli 
and are far more easily and quickly fatigued than the 
muscles. Hence we must be on our guard lest we over- 
strain them. 

Once again let us remind ourselves that the right 
amount of mental as well as of physical exercise is not 
what the child can endure without evident fatigue, but 
what wiU be most profitable for the growth and further 
development of very immature tissues. The line of 
profit lies far within the line of fatigue, for it is not yet 
the time to train for endurance. And as the nervous 
tissues of the higher centres of the brain are far less 
mature and tough than those of the muscles, their pe- 
riods of vigorous exercise should be made correspondingly 
shorter. This is a fact which teachers and parents alike 
are very prone to forget. 

The adult student who trains and accustoms himself 
to spend as many hours as he can endure over his books 
or any form of mental work rarely gains as alert, fresh, 
and vigorous a mind as the man who expends the same 
amount of energy and effort in one half of the time. 
And the quality of the work of the athletic mind is 
always far higher. It has not the taint of the smell of 
midnight oil, not to say smoke. Hence periods of mental 
exercise of children should be shortened and interrupted 
by periods of rest and change even more than in phys- 
ical gymnastics. We have already noticed the advant- 
ages of enjoyment and zest in work which come from 
change and variety. 

During the last years of the high-school course the 
periods of mental work may well be lengthened. But 
even here it is better to cultivate habits of hard rather 
than of too prolonged study. The power of concentra- 



KETROSPECT AND SUMMAEY 253 

tion and application is the highest attainment. If the 
periods of study are too long the student even in the 
high school will probably lose in concentration more 
than he can gain by the amount of work. Here the 
high-school teacher can learn much by studying the 
methods of the successful athletic trainer. 

But the development of the will is surely more 
important than that of the intellect. This is the part of 
education which has suffered most from modern con- 
ditions, and any compensation which the school can 
make is certainly of the greatest importance and value. 
Will-power and muscle are closely associated and re- 
lated ; and, especially in the child, the will is most easily 
reached and strengthened through the muscles. Long 
before the brain is mature enough to receive anything 
but harm and loss from close or long application, the 
sturdier, heavy muscles may be held to a fair amount 
of steady and persistent effort. But the influence of 
physical and manual training upon the will has already 
been sufficiently emphasized in preceding chapters. 

Changed conditions require that our schools should 
shift somewhat the emphasis in their statements as to 
the aim of education. Formerly the farm furnished the 
efficiency and power, the school the learning and the 
purely intellectual development. Now the school must 
make every effort to furnish both. It must inspire and 
arouse interest, must caU forth purpose and ideal, but 
must develop also the strength and resolute perseverance 
to realize these. It must furnish power and ingenuity 
lest the adult balk at slight obstacles, or be discouraged 
by difficulties. To many it must try to compensate for 
the loss of the spur of necessity. 

These latter qualities are hardly attainable merely and 



254 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

solely through the study of books. They are exercised 
and strengthened far more by the application through 
the muscles of what has been acquired and assimilated 
by the intellect. Hence the value of laboratory work 
and of manual training, which is or should be the lab- 
oratory of the science of everyday life. The attainment 
of efficiency through perseverance, exactness, and skill 
is of far more value than any amount of knowledge of 
rules of language and mathematics, or of facts of science ; 
especially if these are committed to memory to-day 
against an examination to-morrow, and then immediately 
forgotten as foreign to any possible or probable experi- 
ence. 

A large proportion of our boys will depend for their 
livelihood upon some form of manual or physical work. 
Can we not show them the possibilities of such work, 
that it can be made an art or science worthy of univer- 
sal admiration and pursuit ? The interest of the child in 
handcraft and his respect and admiration for such work 
should at least be preserved and not destroyed. 

I once asked a football captain about the condition 
and prospects of his team. He answered : " They know 
the rules of the game pretty well. What they need 
most is more pounds in the rush-line." I am not cer- 
tain that our present system of education is yet giv- 
ing the best instruction in the rules of the great game; 
but surely we cannot send our pupils out into life with 
too many pounds in the rush-line. 

The advantages of changes leading to so worthy ends 
are well appreciated and fully understood by many of 
our teachers and by nearly all our superintendents. 
Our most progressive cities and towns have already 
made similar changes, and have proven that they are 



RETROSPECT AND SUMMARY 255 

beneficial. In most localities the superintendent would 
gladly introduce manual and physical training, or in- 
crease the time now devoted to them, if the public 
would allow him to do so and then give him their cor- 
dial support in his efforts. The responsibility for hold- 
ing to an inadequate system must lie finally with you 
and me, as long as we block the wheels of progress. 

It must be confessed that the public does not seem 
to set a very high value on these branches of education. 
When, in a spasm of economy, we cut down the appro- 
priations for our schools, the first teacher to be dis- 
charged is not one of the many instructors in language, 
but the one and only teacher of gymnastics. The next 
department to suffer is almost always that of manual 
training. If the tide of economy runs high, the teacher 
of music also is swept away. The Greeks considered 
physical training and music the most important branches 
of education. They certainly were intelligent as well as 
intellectual. 

When the Committee of Ten framed their course of 
instruction for secondary education, I cannot find that 
they held any conference concerning physical training, 
nor do I find it mentioned in their report. They do not 
seem to have left much time or place for any one to 
crowd it into the grammar or high school. Yet that 
committee was composed of very wise and intelligent 
men. They failed to seize an opportunity to forward 
a most important movement, apparently on the ground 
that the subjects and disciplines form no natural and 
essential part of secondary education. Many of us 
follow their august example. 

Few of us parents can spare much time to consider 
such subjects. We read the magazine articles on the 



256 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

latest discoveries in science or history. We skip any 
article on education wMch the editor in a careless 
moment has chanced to accept. We throng the hall to 
hear our member of Congress speak on the sacredness 
of the tariff, though the good man finds it somewhat 
difficult to become very eloquent or to touch our convic- 
tions, while he discusses the importance of protecting 
coal and iron and other infant industries. But should 
the superintendent of our schools wish to explain to us 
his plans and policy concerning the education of our 
children, he would have to speak to empty benches in 
most localities. The election of a president or governor 
calls out every vote. The election of a school-board re- 
sponsible for the education of our children is a quite 
minor issue. 

Our schools are of more importance than the enact- 
ments of Congress or of our Legislatures. A kind Pro- 
vidence has usually saved us from the worst results of 
legislative blunders, and we have no means of knowing 
how much good a few statesmen in Congress might be 
able to accomplish. Yet our deplorable neglect is not 
due to any lack of interest in our homes and children. 

Conservatism weighs heavily with many. We have 
invested an immense amount of money, thought, and 
labor in our schools. These institutions are of great 
size, having thousands of pupils in even our smaller 
cities. We cannot change them and risk our vested 
interests to follow every whim and fad of eager experi- 
menters and would-be reformers. Our teachers have 
been trained to certain methods and policies. It is 
neither wise nor fair to ask them to change all these for 
any uncertain advantage. We must be cautious and 
slow in our changes and experiments. 



RETROSPECT AND SUMMARY 257 

Yet in education as elsewhere the good is often the 
worst enemy of the best. We should remember that 
every educational system is necessarily more or less of 
an experiment ; and that we must change, whether 
we will or not, to keep pace with changed conditions. 
Otherwise we shall surely fail to train our children to 
meet present dangers and emergencies and to grasp 
present opportunities. It is unjust as well as unwise to 
ask excellent teachers to work under a system which is 
antiquated and inadequate in important respects. But 
the American citizen is usually anything but over-con- 
servative, when he has once seen the advantage of a 
change. 

Those who are most interested in the cause of educa- 
tion are usually those who prize learning most highly. 
They watch with anxiety the growing interest in ath- 
letics in school and college. They believe that the phys- 
ical well-being of the child will care for itself, but that 
sound learning will always need stanch and devoted 
defenders. The influence of such men has been the 
greatest help and blessing in the past and is needed still; 
but we may well question whether their zeal against 
physical training or their neglect of it is according to 
knowledge. The lower grades of our schools have not 
been invaded by athletics to any great extent. A little 
more athletics would certainly help our girls in these 
grades. Over-indulgence in academy or college, wher- 
ever occurring, may be due more to earlier denial of 
a natural and healthy craving than to any other cause. 
Apparently sound and profound learning would be best 
promoted to-day by attention to the soundness of the 
body during the earlier years of life. 

The deepest source of the opposition, neglect, or lack 



258 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

o£ interest, seems to be the failure of most of us to realize 
that any system of education, however good in itself, 
can be adequate and ideal only in so far as it is suited 
to existing conditions or to our existing stage of social 
development. When old conditions pass away and new 
ones arise, the system of education must change front 
and tactics to meet the new dangers and emergencies. 
If " the old order passes," " one good custom may cor- 
rupt the world," as Tennyson tells us. 

Those of us in middle life see that the schools of to- 
day are generally furnishing the education which would 
have been adequate to all our needs twoscore years 
ago. We wish to have our children have all the oppor- 
tunities and training whose lack or imperfection we felt 
most deeply and remember most clearly. We forget 
that most of us were reared imder conditions quite dif- 
ferent from those now existing ; and that our children's 
needs may not be the same as ours were. We easily 
forget how fully the school has carried out all these 
changes and reforms needed in our childhood; that the 
changes in the direction desired by us have already 
gone far beyond our former hopes, perhaps beyond 
what in moments of careful consideration we would 
approve. 

While we clearly remember the deficiencies of the 
schools of our childhood, we are in danger of forgetting 
the advantages of our early home training. Many re- 
member only the hardships and deprivations of their 
early life, and in their unwise fondness would not have 
their children share the training to which they owe their 
strength and success. 

What may be urged fairly and wisely is a careful, 
thoughtful, patient consideration of the claims of the 



EETROSPECT AND SUMMARY 259 

various forms of physical education ; and that this con- 
sideration should be undertaken in the light of present 
social conditions and needs, and with an adequate 
knowledge of the present condition, work, and needs of 
our schools. The most progress has been made, and 
the best schools are found, where the public has been 
brought into the closest relation with the superintend- 
ent and the teachers. Every town and city needs an 
educational club to learn, appreciate, and support the 
policy and plans of the board and superintendent, as 
far as these are reasonable. The least that we can do 
is now and then to invite them to explain to us their 
aims and wishes, and to turn our most careful attention 
and thought to their recommendations. Unless we are 
willing to do this much, the best and most energetic 
superintendent can accomplish but little. Only as the 
public becomes sufficiently educated to appreciate the 
difficulty and complexity of the present educational 
problem, can it expect to vote or legislate wisely and 
thus secure the best returns on the investment. 

It is becoming more and more difficult to draw any 
sharp line between the responsibility of the home and 
that of the school. The partnership of the two has be- 
come exceedingly close. Their interests are of course 
identical, and each shares in the work of the other. 
Their areas of duty overlap. The lower grades of the 
school are an extension of the home, and the home 
should aid in the work of the higher grades. As the 
inter-dependence of the two increases, the largest possi- 
ble acquaintance between parents and teachers becomes 
absolutely essential. The teacher who knows us well 
will have far more charity for as well as knowledge of 
our children. When we appreciate the work and fidel- 



260 GROWTH AND EDUCATION 

ity and difficulties of the teacher, we shall see more 
clearly how we can actively help and what hindrances 
we can remove. This better mutual understanding will 
pave the way for many improvements at home and at 
school. Both parties will be greatly benefited by the 
cooperation and sympathy. 



APPENDIX 



APPENDIX 



A. TABLES 

Table I gives the dimensions and proportions of the body and 
the principal internal organs at birth, at the end of each of the 
first five triennia, and in the adult. The first column, A, gives 
the absolute measure in kilograms or centimeters ; the second, B, 
the percentile increase during the preceding three years ; the 
third, C, the per cent of the adult measure attained at each age. 

The American heights and weights are taken from Holt (138, 
p. 20), Boas (116, pp. 262, 263), and Hitchcock (96). The Eng- 
lish heights and weights are from Roberts (134). The sitting- 
heights, and standing-heights as compared with the sitting are 
from Porter (118). The girths are taken from Quetelet (135), 
except those for boys older than six, which are from Hall (125). 
The strength of squeeze is copied from Hastings (124) ; the lift- 
ing-power from Weissenberg's "Sudrussische Juden." Weights 
of brain, liver, kidneys, and heart are from Vierordt (139, 
pp. 21-24). 

Table I. 



JtlALES. 



WEIGHT. 


HEIGHT. 


Amebicah. 


English. 


Amebican. 


Age. 


A. 


B. 


C, 


A. 


B. 


C. 


A. 


B. 


C. 


Abs. 


%inc. 


% of ad. 

5,3 
22.2 
32,7 
42.1 
54,4 
76.0 
100.0 


Abs. 


% inc. 


%ad. 


Abs. 


%inc. 


%ad. 




3 

6 

9 

12 

15 

Ad. 


3.4 

14.2 
20.5 
27.0 
34.9 

48.7 
64.1 


317.6 
44.4 
31.7 
29.3 
39,5 
30.9 


3.2 
15.4 
20.1 
27.4 
34.8 
46.8 
66.7 


381.3 
30.5 
36.3 
27.0 
34.5 
42.5 


4.8 
23.1 
30,1 
41,1 
52.2 
70.2 
100.0 


52.5 
89.1 
112.0 
127.0 
140.7 
159.8 
173.2 


69.7 
25.7 
13.4 
10.8 
13.6 
8.4 


30,3 
61,4 
64.7 
73.3 
81,2 
92.3 
100.0 



264 



APPENDIX 



Height — English. 


KiLOG. PEB 


Sitting-Height. 


















A. 


B. 


C. 


Meter 


A. 


B. 


C. 


Age. 








Weight. 
























Abs. 


%inc. 


%ad. 




Abs. 


% inc. 


%ad. 





49.5 




28.8 


6.5 








3 


93.5 


88.9 


54.4 


15.9 








6 


111.8 


19.6 


65.1 


18.4 


61.3 




67.4 


9 


126.2 


12.9 


73.5 


21.3 


'►66.7 


8.8 


73.4 


12 


139.7 


10.7 


81.3 


24.8 


72.6 


8.8 


79.9 


15 


158.0 


13.8 


92.0 


30.5 


79.7 


9.8 


87.7 


Ad. 


171.8 


8.7 


100.0 


37.0 


90.9 


14.1 


100.0 



Hip to Ceown. 


Hip to Sole. 


Aempit to 


Hip. 


Age. 


A. 


B. 


C. 


A. 


B. 


C. 


A. 


B. 


C. 






















AbB 


%inc. 


%ad. 


Abs. 


% iuc. 


%ad. 


Abs. 


%inc. 


%ad. 





24.2 




36.6 


24.3 




22.7 


8.3 




32.9 


3 


42.7 


76.4 


64.5 


52.3 


115.2 


48.9 


15.1 


81.9 


59.9 


6 


48.6 


13.8 


73.4 


66.2 


26.6 


61.9 


16.8 


11.3 


66.7 


9 


50.1 


3.1 


75.7 


75.7 


14.4 


70.8 


17.3 


3.0 


68.7 


12 


53.8 


7.4 


81.3 


.1 83.0 


9.6 


77.6 


18.6 


7.5 


73.8 


15 


57.9 


7.6 


87.5 


96.9 


16.7 


90.6 


20.7 


11.3 


82.1 


Ad. 


66.2 


14.3 


100.0 


106.9 


10.3 


100.0 


25.2 


21.7 


100.0 



Stand -Ht. — Sit.-Ht. 




Chest-Gibth. 




A. 


B. 


0. 


A. 


B. 


C. 












Ht. sitting. 








Chest girth. 


Age. 
























Ht. stand. 








Stand.-ht. 




Abs. 


%mc. 


%ad. 




Abs. 


%inc. 


%ad. 















34.2 




36.8 


65.1 


3 










51.1 


49.4 


55.0 


57.4 


6 


47.6 




58.8 


56.3 


59.1 


15.7 


63.6 


52.8 


9 


57.7 


21.2 


71.3 


53.7 


63.9 


8.1 


68.8 


60.2 


12 


65.6 


13.7 


81.1 


52.5 


68.8 


7.7 


74.1 


49.8 


15 


75.2 


14.6 


93.0 


51.5 


76.6 


11.3 


82.5 


49.4 


Ad. 


80.9 


7.6 


100.0 


52.5 


92.9 


21.3 


100.0 


53.6 



APPENDIX 

GIRTHS. 



265 





Thigh. 




Uppeb Aem. 




FOBEABM 


• 


Age. 


A. 


B. 


C. 


A. 


B. 


C. 


A. 


B. 


C. 


Abs. 


% inc. 


%ad. 


Abs. 


%mc. 


%ad. 


Ab8. 


%inc. 


%ad. 




3 

6 

9 

12 

15 

Ad. 


13.8 
26.5 
29.8 
37.1 
41.0 
46.1 
52.5 


92.9 
12.5 

10.5 
12.4 
13.9 


26.3 
50.5 
56.8 
70.7 
78.1 
87.8 
100.0 


9.1 
13.5 
14.5 
18.7 
21.3 
25.5 
30.7 


45.1 

7.4 

13.9 
19.7 
20.4 


29.6 
44.0 
47.2 
60.9 
69.4 
83.1 
100.0 


7.5 
10.1 
10.7 
17.6 
20.1 
23.7 
26.7 


34.7 
5.9 

14.2 
17.9 
12.7 


28.1 
37.8 
40.1 
65.9 
7.5.3 
88.8 
100.0 



Squeeze. 


Lift. 


Lift 
Weight. 


Sqtteezb 
















Weight. 




A. 


B. 


C. 


A. 


B. 


C. 






Age. 




































Abs. 


%inc. 


%ad. 


Abs. 


%inc. 


%ad. 


% 


% 



3 
6 


7.0 




14.5 








134.8 


36.1 


9 


13.1 


87.1 


27.2 








174.5 


52.2 


12 


19.7 


50.4 


40.9 


54.2 




36.0 


176.0 


59.7 


15 


28.9 


46.7 


60.0 


90.6 


36.4 


60.2 


221.0 


61.5 


Ad. 


48.21 


66.8 


100.0 


150.6 


59.4 


100.0 


264.8 


67.7 



WEIGHT OF ORGANS. 



Beain. 


LiVBE. 


Kidneys. 




A. 


B. 


C. 


A. 


B. 


C. 


A. 


B. 


C. 


Age. 








































Abs. 


%mc. 


%ad. 


Abs. 


%inc. 


%ad. 


Abs. 


%inc. 


%ad. 





381.0 




25.6 


141.7 




7.8 


23.3 




7.6 


3 


1108.1 


190.8 


74.4 


484.7 


242.1 


26.6 


102.1 


338.2 


33.4 


6 


1359.1 


22.7 


91.2 


614.8 


27.5 


33.8 


106.8 


4.6 


34.9 


9 


1425.0 


4.8 


95.6 


701.7 


14.1 


38.6 


156.0 


46.1 


51.0 


12 


1415.6 




95.0 


880.0 


11.2 


48.4 


(157.5)2 


(1.0) 


51.5 


15 


1490.2 




100.0 


1306.0 


48.4 


71.8 


239.7 


52.2 


78.4 


Ad. 


(1490.2) 




100.0 


1819.0 


39.3 


100.0 


305.9 


27.6 


100.0 



"*■ Hastings. 



2 Av. of 11 and 13. 



APPENDIX 



Heabt. 


Lung Capacity. 




A. 


B. 


C. 


A. 


B. 


C. 






Age. 
















CO, PEB Hotr» 














AKD KiLOO. 




Aba. 


%mc. 


%ad. 


Abs. 


%inc. 


%ad. 


% weight. 


Eel. 





23.6 




7.9 












3 


64.8 


174.6 


21.6 












6 


84.9 


31.0 


28.2 


.83 




19.1 


4.28 




9 


108.3 


27.6 


36.0 


1.33 


60.2 


30.6 


5.30 


210. 


12 


(152.5) 


(40.8) 


(50.7) 


1.83 


37.6 


42.2 


5.55 


186. 


15 


199.4 


(30.8) 


66.3 


2.64 


44.3 


60.8 


5.62 


165. 


Ad. 


300.6 


50.8 


100.0 


4.34 


64.4 


100.0 


6.96 


130.1 



1 100 = amount at 57. 

WEIGHT. 
FEMALES. 



Amebican. 


English. 


Amebican — Hbiqht. 




A. 


B. 


C. 


A. 


B. 


C. 


A. 


B. 


C. 


Age. 




















Abs. 


%inc. 


%ad. 


Abs. 


%inc. 


%ad. 


Abs. 


%mc. 


%ad. 





3.3 




6.1 


3.1 




5.6 


52.2 




32.5 


3 


13.6 


312.1 


25.3 


14.3 


361.3 


25.9 


891 


70.7 


55.4 


6 


19.7 


44.9 


36.7 


18.9 


32.2 


34.2 


110.0 


23.5 


68.5 


9 


26.0 


32.0 


48.4 


25.1 


32.8 


45.5 


126.2 


14.7 


78.5 


12 


35.7 


37.3 


66.5 


34.7 


38.2 


62.9 


142.5 


12.9 


88.7 


16 


48.4 


35.6 


90.1 


48.2 


38.9 


87.3 


156.5 


9.8 


97.4 


Ad. 


53.7 


11.0 


100.0 


55.2 


14.5 


100.0 


160.7 


2.7 


100.0 



HEIGHTS. 



English. 


Weight 
Height. 


Sitting-Height. 


















A. 


B. 


C. 




A. 


B. 


C. 


Age. 
















Abs. 


%inc. 


%ad. 


% 


Abs. 


%inc. 


%ad. 





49.0 




30.6 


6.3 








3 


92 


87.8 


57.5 


15.3 








6 


109.0 


18.5 


68.1 


17.9 


59.5 




69.9 


9 


123.7 


13.5 


77.3 


20.6 


66.2 


113 


77.8 


12 


141.5 


14.4 


88.4 


251 


72.7 


9.8 


85.4 


15 


154.7 


9.3 


96.6 


30.9 


81.4 


12.0 


95.7 


Ad. 


160.1 


3.5 


100.0 


33.4 


85.1 


4.5 


100.0 



APPENDIX 



267 





Stand. 


■Ht.— Sit.-Ht. 




Chest Gieth. 










Sit. Ht. 
St.'Ht. 










A. 


B. 


C. 


A. 


B. 


C. 


Chest— 


Age. 
















GiBTH ON 
















— 




Abs. 


%inc. 


%ad. 


% 


Abs. 


%mc. 


%ad. 


Stand. H. 













33.2 




41.3 


63.6 


3 










50.5 


52.1 


62.8 


56.7 


6 


48.2 




65.1 


55.2 


58.3 


15.4 


72.5 


54.2 


9 


57.5 


19.3 


77.5 


53.5 


62.5 


7.2 


77.7 


50.6 


12 


66.4 


15.5 


89.5 


52.2 


68.3 


9.3 


85.0 


49.1 


15 


73.6 


10.8 


99.2 


52.5 


76.8 


12.4 


95.5 


50.1 


Ad. 


74.2 


0.8 


100.0 


53.4 


80.4 


4.7 


100.0 


50.6 



GIRTHS. 



TmGH Uppbe. 


TmoH LowEE. 


Calf. 


Uppeb Aem. 




A. 


B. 


C. 


A. 


B. 


C 


A. 


B. 


C. 


A. 

i 


B. 

d 

a 


C. 


bo 




S 


i 


M 


.3 


i 


i 


-J 


-i 


i 




•< 


&5 


^ 


< 


S5 


^ 


< 


^ 


^ 


< 


^ 


^ 





13.7 




27.4 


11.6 




31.3 


9.7 




29.2 


9.0 


34.2 


3 


26.2 


91.2 


52.4 


216 


86.2 


58.2 


17.9 


84.5 


53.9 


13.4 


48.9 


51.0 


6 


29.3 


11.8 


58.6 


23.6 


9.3 


63.6 


20.4 


14.0 


61.4 


14.3 


6.7 


54.4 


9 


32.4 


10.6 


64.8 


25.7 


8.9 


69.3 


22.6 


10.8 


68.1 


15.6 


9.1 


59.3 


12 


36.4 


12.3 


72.8 


28.2 


9.7 


76.0 


24.7 


9.3 


74.4 


17.0 


9.0 


64.6 


15 


42.1 


15.7 


84.2 


31.8 


12.8 


85.7 


27.8 


12 6 


83.7 


19.3 


13.5 


73.4 


Ad. 


50.0 


18.8 


100.0 


37.1 


16.7 


100.0 


33.2 


19.4 


100.0 


26.3 


36.3 


100.0 



GIRTHS. 



WEIGHTS. 



FOBEABM. 


Right Hand Squeeze. 


Beain. 


Age. 


A. 


B. 


C. 


.A 


B. 


C. 


A. 


B. 


C. 


Abs. 


%mc. 


%ad. 


Abs. 


% inc. 


^ad. 


Abs. 


%mc. 


%ad. 





7.4 




50.3 








384.2 




28.6 


3 


10.0 


35.1 


68.0 








1040.2 


170.7 


77.3 


6 


10.4 


4.0 


70.7 


5.2 




17.3 


1264.5 


21.6 


94.0 


9 


11.3 


8.7 


76.9 


10.1 


94.2 


33.6 


1242.6 






12 


12.2 


8.0 


83.0 


16.0 


58.4 


53.2 


1245.2 






15 


13.5 


10.7 


91.8 


24.4 


52.5 


81.1 


1238.1 






Ad, 


14.7 


8.9 


100.0 


30.1 


23.4 


100.0 


1345.0 




100.0 



268 



APPENDIX 

WEIGHTS. 



LlVEB. 


Kidneys. 


Heart. 


Age. 


A. 


B. 


C. 


A. 


B. 


C. 


A. 


B. 


C. 






















Aba. 


%inc. 


%ad. 


Abs. 


%inc. 


%ad. 


Abs. 


%mc. 


%ad. 





164.0 




10.7 


23.1 




8.6 


24.0 




9.5 


3 


445.0 


171.3 


29.0 


99.3 


329.9 


36.9 


59.7 


148.8 


23.7 


6 


642.0 


44.3 


41.9 


129,3 


30.2 


48.0 


89.2 


49.4 


35.3 


9 


795.0 


23.8 


51.9 


133.3 


3.1 


49.5 


123.3 


38.2 


48.9 


12 


807.9 


16.2 


52.7 


(204.8) 




76.1 


(110.0) 






15 


1420.0 


75.8 


92.7 


235.0 




87.3 


250.1 




99.1 


Ad. 


1532.3 


7.9 


100.0 


269.2 


14.6 


100.0 


252.4 


0.9 


100.0 





Vital Capacity 








A. 


B. 


C. 




CO2 FEB HotIB 






AND KiLOO. 


Age. 






















Abs. 


% inc. 


%ad. 


% Weight. 

















3 












6 


.71 




28.0 


3.83 




9 


1.14 


60.6 


44.9 


4.58 


0.850 


12 


1.54 


35.1 


60.6 


4.65 


0.743 


15 


2.02 


31.2 


79.5 


4.33 


0.562 


Ad. 


2.54 


25.7 


100.0 


4.90 


0.540 



APPENDIX 



269 



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270 



APPENDIX 

MORBIDITY. 





Boys. 






GiBLS. 




Copenhagen. 


Stockholm. 


Age at last 
birthday. 


Denmark. 


Sweden. 














Age. 


% 


Age. 


% 




% 


% 


6.6 


18.41 






6 


23.0 




7.5 


18.41 


7.8 


17.6 


7 


27.0 


28.6 


8.5 


34.0 


8.9 


36.7 


8 


28.0 


50.0 


9.6 


30.7 


10.0 


33.8 


9 


39.0 


47.6 


10.5 


33.6 






10 


40.0 


55.7 


11.7 


33.5 


11.3 


34.4 


11 


39.0 


59.7 


12.5 


32.8 


12.3 


37.6 


12 


42.0 


64.8 


13.5 


41.9 


13.4 


38.0 


13 


50.0 


64.4 


14.3 


31.8 


14.3 


37.4 


14 


48.0 


63.1 


15.6 


28.3 


15.4 


36.6 


15 


40.0 


63.9 


16.7 


38.2 


16.5 


34.7 


16 


40.0 


62.5 


17.5 


26.4 


17.4 


38.6 


17 


(20.0) 


68.5 






18.3 


40.5 


18 




60.3 






19.4 


36.9 






60.0 



1 Average of both years. 

These tables are a brief summary given by Key, 136 pp., 81 and 313. The discus- 
sion in Chapter IX is based on a larger table, and its figures differ somewhat from 
this. The girls' schools are the private schools of Denmark and the higher schools 
of Sweden. 

Key's book is a most careful study, and should be thoroughly examined. 



B. BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The most important abbreviations used in this bibliography are : A. A. A. P. E., 
Report of American Association for Advancement of Physical Education ; Ed., Edu- 
cation; Ed. Rev., Educational Review; N. E. A., Report of National Educational 
Association; Ped. Sem., Pedagogical Seminary ; Pop. Sci. Mo., Popular Science 
Monthly; Zts. f. Sch. ges. pfl., Zeitschrift fiir Schulgesundheitspilege. 



CHAPTER I 

PRESENT NEEDS IN EDUCATION 

1. Walker, F., Restriction of Immigration, Atlantic, Ixxvii, 

1896. 

2. Earle, A. M., Child-Life in Colonial Days. New York. 

3. Earle, A. M., Home-Life in Colonial Days. New York. 

4. Hamlin, Cyrus, My Life and Times. Boston, 1893. 

5. Hall, G. S., Boy-Life in a Country Town a Quarter of a Cen- 

tury Ago. Proc. Amer. Ant. Soc., Worcester, October, 
1890; Abstract in Ped. Sem., i, 232. 

6. Hall, G. S., Moral Education and Will Training, Ped. Sem., 

ii, 73. 

7. Winslow, H. M., Child-Life on a New England Farm. Ed., 

ix, 466. 

8. Bailey, L. H., The Outlook to Nature. New York, 1905. 

9. Loomis, S. L., Modern Cities. New York, 1887. 

10. Wilcox, D. F., The American City. New York, 1904. 

11. Strong, Josiah, The Twentieth Century City. New York, 

1898. 

12. Weber, A. F., The Growth of Cities. New York, 1899. 

13. Wright, C. D., Lessons from the Census. Pop. Sci. Mo., xlvi, 

459. 

14. Fothergill, J. M., The Town-Dweller. New York, 1895. 

15. Ammon, O., Die naturliche Auslese bei Menschen. Jena, 

1893. 

16. Eliot, C. W., Family Stocks in a Democracy. Forum, x, 

396. 

17. Handbook of Prevention of Tuberculosis. New York, 1903. 

18. Hunter, R., Poverty. New York, 1905. 



272 APPENDIX 

19. First Report of Tenement House Department of City of 

New York. 

20. Baxter, J. H., Medical Statistics of the Provost-Marshal- 

General's Bureau. Washington, 1875. 

21. Beard, American Nervousness. New York, 1881. 

22. Hall, G. S., Moral and Religious Training of Children and 

Adolescents. Ped. Sem., i, 196. 

23. Pickard, J. L., Checks to Criminal Tendency Needed. Ed., 

xvii, 389. 

24. Street, J. R., A Study in Moral Education. Ped. Sem. v, 1. 

25. Bushnell, H., The Age of Homespun. See 374, p. 368. 



CHAPTER II 

MAN IN THE LIGHT OP EVOLUTION 

General 

35. Haeckel, E., History of Creation. London, 1876. 

36. Haeckel, E., Systematische Phylogenie. Berlin, 1895. 

Three volumes. 

37. Darwin, C, Origin of Species. 

38. Darwin, C, Descent of Man. 

39. Cope, E. D., Primary Factors of Organic Evolution. Chi- 

cago, 1896. 

39. Tyler, J. M., The Whence and The Whither of Man. New 

* York, 1896. 

40. Marshall, C. F., Lectures on the Darwinian Theory. Lon- 

don. 1894. 

Human Evolution 

Darwin, C, Descent of Man. Various editions. 
42. Drummond, H., Ascent of Man. New York, 1894. 
47. Fiske, J., The Destiny of Man. Boston, 1884. 

Human Nervous System 

55. Halleck, R. P., Education of the Central Nervous System. 

New York, 1898. Chap. i. 

56. James, W., Psychology, Briefer Course. New York, 1893. 

Chaps, vii-x, pp. 478. 

57. Mercier, C, The Nervous System and the Mind. New York, 

1888, pp. 374. 



APPENDIX 273 

58. Todd, K. B., Cyclopedia of Anatomy and Physiology. Lon- 
don, 1847, viii, p. 661. 

69. Edinger, L., Ban der nervosen Centralorgane. 5th ed. 

Leipzig, 1896, pp. 386. 

60. Ross, J., Diseases of the Nervous System. Philadelphia, 

1886. 

61. Barker, L. F., The Nervous System. New York, 1899. 

62. Flechsig, P. Gehirn und Seele. Leipzig, 1896. 

65. New International Encyclopedia. New York, Art. Ner- 
vous System. See also any other modern encyclopedia, 
articles, Nervous System; Brain. 

Comparative Anatomy 

70. Gegenbaur, C, Elements of Comparative Anatomy. Lon- 

don, 1878. 2d ed., p. 503. 

71. Wiedersheira, R., Comparative Anatomy of Vertebrates. 

New York, 1886. p. 131. 

72. Wiedersheim, R., Structure of Man. London and New York, 

1895. See also No. 58, iii, p. 618. 

Fundamental and Accessory 

73. Hartwell, E. M., Physical Training. Rep. Com. of Ed. U. S., 

1903. i, 724. 

74. Burk, F., From Fundamental to Accessory in Development 

of Nervous System. Ped. Sem. vi, 1. Also in Rep. of Com. 
ofEd. U. S. 1901-02, i, 345. 



CHAPTER III 

HINTS FROM EMBRYOLOGY 

75. Romanes, J. C, Darwin and After Darwin. Chicago, 1896, 

i, 134. 

76. Marshall, A. M., Vertebrate Embryology. New York, 1893, 
. p. 219. 

77. Foster, M., and Balfour, F. M., Elements of Embryology. Lon- 

don, 1898. Two vols. 
See also 65, Art. Embryology. 

Recapitulation Theory . 

80. Morgan, T. H., Evolution and Adaptation. New York, 1903, 
Chap. iii. 



274 APPENDIX 

81. Baldwin, J. M., Mental Development. New York, 1897. 

82. Guillet, C, Recapitulation and Education. Ped. Sem. vii, 

397. 

83. Sedgwick, A., Law of Development known as von Baer's 

Law. Quart. Journ. of Mic. Science, xxxvi, 35. 
See also , 35 , 36 , 38, 175 and 192 ; 65, Art. Biogenesis. 
Johnson's Encyclopedia. Art. Evolution. 



CHAPTER IV 

GROWTH IN WEIGHT AND HEIGHT 

91. Hitchcock, E., and Seelye, H. H., Anthropometric Manual. 

2d. ed. Amherst, Mass., 1889. 

92. Hitchcock, E., Synoptic Exhibit of 15000 Examinations. Proc. 

Fifth Ann. Meeting. Am. Assoc, for Adv. of Phys. Ed. 
1890. 

93. Hitchcock, E., Comparative Study of Measurements of Male 

and Female Students at Amherst, Mt. Holyoke, and 
Wellesley. Proc. Am. Assoc, for Adv. of Phys., Ed. 1891, 
vi, 37. 

94. Hitchcock, E., Results of Anthropometry. Amherst, 1892. 

95. Hitchcock, E., and Seelye, H. H., Physical Measurements of 

Young Men. Boston, 1893. 

96. Hitchcock, E., Comparative Anthropometry of Males and Fe- 

males. Amherst, 1903. 

97. Hitchcock, E., and Phillips, P. G., Physical Growth of Stu- 

dents during Course at Amherst College. Amherst. 

98. Phillips, P. C., Anthropometric Study of Students of Amherst 

College. Amherst, 1903. 

99. Phillips, P. C, Is the Physique of the American College Man 

and Woman Degenerating ? Am. Phys. Ed. Rev. ix. 

100. Beyer, H. G., Growth of U. S. Naval Cadets. Proc. U. S. 

Naval Inst. xxi. 

101. Foster, A. B., Occupation and Exercise. Rep. of 9th. Ann. 

Meet, of Am. Assoc. Phys. Ed. 

102. Barr, A. L., Some Anthropometric Data of Western College 

Girls. Am. Phys. Ed. Rev. viii, 245. 

103. Richards, A., and Little, B. B., Proposed Standard Chart to 

show Proportions of Amer. Females. Report of 10th Ann. 
Meeting Am. Assoc, for Adv. Phys. Ed. p. 30. 



APPENDIX 275 

115. Hall, G. S., Adolescence. New York, 1904. Chapter i. 

116. Burk, F., Growth of Children in Height and Weight. Am. 

Jour. Psy. ix, 253. Bib. 

117. Bowditch, H. P., Growth of Children. 8th Ann. Rep. Mass. 

State Board of Health, 1875. 

118. Porter, W. F., Growth of St. Louis Children. Trans. Acad. 

Sci. St. Louis, vi, 263. 

119. Peckhaiii, G. W., Growth of Children. 6th Ann. Rep. State 

Board of Health, Wisconsin, 1881. 

120. Papers on Anthropometry. Amer. Statist. Assoc. Boston, 

1894. 

121. Boas, F. W., Growth of Toronto Children. Rep. U. S. Com. 

Ed. 1896-7, p. 1541. 

122. Christopher, W. S., Measurements of Chicago School Chil- 

dren. Chicago, 1900. 

123. Smedley, F. W., Report of Committee on Child-Study. 46th 

Ann. Rep. of Board of Ed. Chicago, 1899-1900. (Child- 
Study Rep. 2.) 

124. Hastings, W. W., Manual for Physical Measurements. 

Springfield, Mass., 1902. 

125. Hall, W. S., Changes in Proportions of Human Body. Jour. 

Anthr. Inst. Great Britain and Ireland, 1895, xxv, 21-46. 

126. MacDonald, A., Experimental Study of Children. Rep. 

U. S. Com. Ed. 97-98. Chapters xxi-xxv. Bib. 

127. Gilbert, J. A., Researches on Mental and Physical Devel. 

of School Children. Studies from Yale Psych. Lab. ii, 40. 

128. Gilbert, J. A., Researches upon School Children and College 

Students. Univ. Iowa. Studies in Psych, i, 1, Iowa City, 
1897. 

129. Moon, S. B., Measurements of Boys of McDonough School. 

McD. School Md., 1892. 

130. Moon, S. B., Growth of Boys. Rep. 10th Ann. Meeting 

Amer. Assoc. Adv. of Phys. Ed. 

131. West, G. M., Anthropometrische Untersuchungen uber die 

Schulkinder in Worcester, Mass. Archiv fiir Anthrop. 
xxii, 13. 

132. Vines, J. H., Physique of the Public School Boy. (England.) 

Amer. Phys. Ed. Rev. ix, 110. 

133. MacLaren, Physical Training. Oxford, 1869. 

134. Roberts, C. F., Manual of Anthropometry. London, 1878. 

135. Quetelet, A., Anthropometric. Brussels, 1870. 



276 APPENDIX 

136. Key, A., Schulhygienische Untersuchungen. Hamburg, 

1889. pp.346. 

137. Hertel, A., Overpressure in High Schools of Denmark, 

London, 1885. 

138. Holt, L. E., Diseases of Infancy, New York. 

139. Vierordt, H., Daten und Tabellen. Jena, 1893. 

140. Malling-Hansen, H., Perioden im Gewicht der Kinder und 

in der Sonnen Warme. Copenhagen, 1881. 

141. Schmid-Monnard, K., Einfluss der Jahreszeit und der Schule 

auf das Wachsthum der Kinder. Zeits. f. Sch. ges. pfl., 
1894, vii, 626; 1896, ix, 317. 



CHAPTER V 

THE NEURO-MUSCULAR SYSTEM 

145. Muhlmann, M., Ursache des Alters. Wiesbaden, 1900. 

146. Bryan, W. L., Development of Motor Ability. Am. Jour. 

Psy. V, 125. 

147. Carman, A., Measurements of Brain, etc. Am. Jour. Psy., 

1889. See also 127, 128. 115. i, chap. iii. 

150. Donaldson, H. H., Growth of the Brain. New York, 1898. 

151. Donaldson, H. H., Growth of Brain in Relation to Training. 

Trans. 111. Soc. Child-Study, 1894, i, 59. 

152. Flechsig, P., Gerhin und Seele. Leipzig, 1896. 

153. Flechsig, P., Localization der geistigen Vorgange. Leipzig, 

1896. 

154. Flechsig, P., Le Cerveau et L'Ame. (152, with additions.) 

155. Burk, F., From Fundamental to Accessory in the Develop- 

ment of the Nervous System. Ped. Sam. 1899, vi, 1. 

156. Boyd, R., Tables of Weights, etc. Philosophical Transac- 

tions, 1861, cli, 242. 

157. Clouston, T. S., Neuroses of Development. Edinburgh and 

London. 1891. See also 115, p. 105 and chap. iii. 139, 
21-27, 145. 55-69. 

Interest 

160. King, L, Psychology of Child Development. Chicago, 1903. 

Chapters xi-xiv. Full Bibliography. 

161. Barnes, E., Studies in Education. Stanford Univ., Cal., 

1896, i. 



APPENDIX 277 

162. Sully, J., Studies of Childhood. London, 1896. 

163. Chamberlain, A. F., The Child. New York, 1900, p. 203. 

164. Taylor, J. P., Children's Hopes. Rep. of N. Y. State Sup't 

of Public Instruction, 1896, ii, 987. 

165. Hancock, J. A., Mental Differences of School Children. 

N. E. A. 1897, 852. 

166. Burk, C. F., Collecting Instinct. Ped. Sem. 1900, vii, 204. 

167. Monroe, W., Play Interests of Children. Trans. 111. Soc. 

Child-Study, 1899, iv, 5. 

168. Monroe, W., Vocational Interests. Ed. 1898, xviii, 259. 

169. Barnes, M. S., Development of Historic Sense in Children. 

See 201. 

170. Dawson, A. E., Children's Interest in the Bible. Ped. Sem. 

1900, vii, 151. 

171. O'Shea, M. V., Interests in Childhood. Child-Study Mo. 

ii, 266. 

172. Jegi, J. I., Children's Ambitions. Trans. 111. Soc. Child- 

Study, 1898, iii, 131. 

173. Barnes, E., Children's Ideals. Ped. Sem. 1900, vii, 3. 

174. Luckey, G. W. A., Practical Results of Study of Children's 

Interests. N. E. A. 1897, 284. 

175. Taylor, G. S., Practical Aspects of Interest. Ped. Sem., 1898, 

V, 497. 

176. Darrah, E. M., Children's Ideals. Pop. Sci. Mo. 1898, liii, 

88. 

CHAPTER VI 

THE VISCERAL ORGANS 

See Nos. 115, 145, 139, of this Bibliography. 

Metabolism 

180. Tigerstedt, R., Physiologie. Leipzig, 1902, i, 122. 

181. Cammerer, W., Stoffwechsel des Kindes. Tubingen, 1894. 

182. Uffelmann, J., Manual of Domestic Hygiene. Jacobi ed. 

N. Y. 1891. 

183. Atwater, W. O., Annual Rep. Storrs Ag'l Experiment Sta. 

Storrs. Conn, xv, 1903. 

184. Atwater, W. O., Bulletins of U. S. Dep't Ag. Office of Ex- 

periment Stations. Washington, D. C, Nos. 44, 45. 
See also 139, 145. 



278 APPENDIX 

CHAPTER VII 

MORTALITY AND MORBIDITY 

Mortality 

190. Hartwell, E. M., Report of Director of Physical Training. 

1894. School Document No. 8. Boston, Mass. 

191. Statistische Jahrbucher der Stadt Berlin. Berlin, xxiv, 134- 

136, xxviii, 81. 
See also 139, 357< Tables and References in 115, 248. 

Morbidity 

195. Key, A., Pubertatsentwickelungen und Krankheitserschein- 

ungen. Berlin, 1891. 

196. School-Life in Relation to Growth and Health. 

Pop. Sei. Mo., 1891, xxxviii, 107. 

197. Schmid-Monnard, K., Die chronische Kranklichkeit in un- 

seren mittleren und hoheren Schulen. Zeits. f. Sch. ges. 
pfl. 1897, X, 598, 666; also 1895, viii, 657; 1899, xii, 1. 

198. Monroe, W. S., Chorea among School-children. Am. Phys. 

Ed. Rev. 1898iii, 19. 
See also 137, and Review of same by Smith, A. T., in 
Education, 1886, vi, 299, 115, chap. iv. 

Fatigue and Overpressure 

205. Binet et Henri, La Fatigue intellectuelle. Paris, 1898. 

Reviewed by Jastrow, J. Science, N. S., 1898, viii, 132. 

206. Mosso, A., Fatigue. Trans, by Drummond, M. and W. R. 

New York, 1904. 

207. Holmes, M. E., Fatigue of a School-Hour. Ped. Sem., 1893, 

iii, 213. 

208. Dressier, F. B., Fatigue. Ped. Sem., 1892, ii, 103. 

209. Thorndike, M. E., Mental Fatigue due to School Work. 

Science, 1899, N. S. ix, 862. 

210. Shaw, E. R., Fatigue. N. E. A., 1898, 550. 

211. Kratz, H. E., How may Fatigue in School Room be reduced 

to a Minimum ? N. E. A., 1899, 1090. 

212. Eliot, C. W., Educational Reform. New York, 1898. 

213. Walker, F. A., Discussions in Education. New York, 1899. 

p. 239, etc. 

214. Bellei, G., An Hour's Work. Ed. Rev. 1903, xxv, 364. 



APPENDIX 279 

215. Lukens, H. F., Mental Fatigue. Am. Phys. Ed. Rev. 1899, 

iv, 19, 121. 

216. Baker, S., Fatigue in School-Children. Ed. Rev. 1898, xv, 

34. 

217. Philbrick, J. D., Overwork in School, Ed. vi, 330. 

For other references, see 380, p. 135. 



CHAPTER VIII 

CONSTITUTION AND PERIODS OE LIFE 

Constitution 

220. Beneke, F. W., Constitution und constitutionelles Kransk- 

sein des Menschen. Marburg, 1881. 

221. Beneke, F. W., Die anatomischen Grundlagen der Constitu- 

tionsanomalien. Marburg, 1878. 

222. Beneke, F. W., Altersdisposition. Marburg, 1879. 

223. Martius, F., Pathogenese innerer Krankheiten. Leipzig, 

1903. 

224. Lincoln, D. F., Sanity of Mind. New York, 1900, p. 18, etc. 

225. Oppenheim, N., Development of the Child. New York, 

1898, p. 75, etc. 

Periods of Life 

230. Chamberlain, A. F., The Child. New York, 1900, pp. 50- 

105. Full Bib. 

231. Christopher, W. S., Three Crises in Child-Life. Child Study 

Mo., 1897, iii, 324. 

232. Hartwell, E. M., Physical Training. Am. Phys. Ed. Rev. 

1897, ii, 133. 

233. Chrisman, O., Religious Periods of Child-Growth. Ed. Rev. 

1899, xvi, 40. 

234. Kline, L. W., Truancy. Ped. Sem. 1897, v, 381. 

See also 157, p. 12. 190, p. 44. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE FIRST THREE YEARS OF THE CHILD'S LIFE 

241. Cotton, A. C, Anatomy, Physiology, and Hygiene of In- 
fancy and Childhood. Chicago, 1900. 



280 APPENDIX 

242. Drummond, W. B., The Child, his Nature and Nurture, 

Temple Primer. London, 1900. 

243. Rankin, F. H., Hygiene of Childhood. New York, 1890. 

244. Vierordt, E,. von, Physiologic des Kindesalter's. Tiibingen, 

1881, pp. 289, etc. 
See also 138, 181, 182. 

Menial Development 
Hall, W., First Five Hundred Days of a Child's Life. Child- 
Study Mo. ii. 

241. Shinn, M. W., Notes on the Development of a Child. Berk- 

ley, Cal., 1899. 

242. Hall, G. S., Notes on Study of Infants. Ped. Sem., i, 127. 

243. Hall, G. S., Some Aspects of Early Sense of Self. Am. 

Jour. Psy. ix, 321. 

244. Perez, B., First Three Years of Childhood. Syracuse, 1889. 

245. Preyer, W., Mental Development of the Child. New York, 

1893. 

246. Tracy, F., Psychology of Childhood. Boston, 1894. 

247. Bryan, E. B., Nascent Stages. Ped. Sem., 1899, vi, 360. 

See also 160, 162, 230, chap. i. 

Mortality and Morbidity 

250. Jones, H. R., Perils and Protection of Infant Life. Jour. 

Royal Statistical Soc. Ivii, 1. 

251. French, J. M., Infant Mortality and Environment. Pop. Sci. 

Mo. xxxiv, 221. 

252. Uffelmann, J., Hygiene. (German.) Vienna, 1890, p. 405. 

See also Reports of Boards of Health of Different States. 



CHAPTER X 

THE KINDERGARTEN PERIOD 

255. Froebel, F., Education of Man. Trans. Hailmann. New 

York, 1887. 

256. Froebel, F., Pedagogics of the Kindergarten. New York, 

1895. 

257. Pestalozzi, A., Leonard and Gertrude. Trans, and abridged 

by Channing, E., Boston, 1897. 

258. Peabody, E., Lectures to Kindergartners. Boston, 1897. 



APPENDIX 281 

259. Burk, F. L. and C. F., The Study of the Kindergarten Pro- 

blem. San Francisco, 1899. 

260. Burk, F. L., The Kindergarten Child Physically. N. E. A. 

1899, 570. 

261. Burk, F. L., Applied Child-Study for Kindergarten and 

Primary Grades. N. E. A. 1899, 1051. 

262. Burnham, W. H., The Hygiene of the Kindergarten Child. 

N. E. A. 1904. 

263. Manton,W. F. P., Development of Young Child. Ed. 1896, 

xvii, 138. 

264. Sheldon, W. E., Some Things a Kindergartner should 

Know. N. E. A. 1891, 554. 

265. Black, J. S., Education of Physical Senses. Ed. 1895, xvi, 

68. 

266. Eby, F., Reconstruction of the Kindergarten. Ped. Sem. 

1900, vii, 229. 

267. Fisher, L., The Kindergarten. Rep. Com. Education of U. S. 

1903, i, 689. 

268. Miller, S. M., Mind-building by Sensory Development. Ed. 

1895, xvi, 218. 

269. Hall, G. S., Contents of Children's Minds on entering School. 

Ped. Sem. 1891,1,139. 



CHAPTER XI 

THE CHILD ENTERING SCHOOL 

(^With some articles on education in general.) 

275. Spencer, H., Education. Various Editions and Reprints. 

276. Comenius, J. A., The Great Didactic. Trans. Keatinge. Lon- 

don, 1896. 

277. Ellis, A. C, Philosophy of Education. Ped. Sem. 1897, v, 

159-201. 

278. Carroll, C. F., Physical Conditions in Education. Ed. 1898, 

xviii, 451-459. 

279. Carroll, C. F., Childhood and Education. Ed. 1896, xvii, 

79-87, 149-158. 

280. Sabin H., Doctor and School. Ed. 1896, xvii, 129-137. 

281. Hancock, J. A., Motor Ability of Children. Ped. Sem. 1894, 

iii, 9-29. 



282 APPENDIX 

282. Hancock, J. A., Observation of School Children. Ped. Sem. 

1901, viii, 291-340. 

283. Hancock, J. A., Mental Differences of School Children. 

N.E.A. 1897, 851-859. 
281. Addams, J., Foreign Children in Primary Grades. N.E.A. 
1897, 104-112. 

285. Beard, R. O., Physiology of Childhood. N. E. A. 1902, 720- 

730. 

286. Halleck, R. P., Cerebral Development. N. E. A. 1897, 833- 

841. 

287. Taylor, H. L., American Childhood from Medical Standpoint. 

Pop. Sci. Mo. 1892, xli, 751-732. 

288. La Grange, M. F., Physical Training of Young Children. 

Pop. Sci. Mo. 1889, xxxiv, 440-454. 

289. Ranney, A. L., Care of the Brain. Pop. Sci. Mo. 1886, xxix, 

386-393. 

290. O'Shea, M. V., Values in Elementary Education. Pop. Sci. 

Mo. 1896, xlviii, 675-686. 

291. Fitz, G. W., Hygiene of Instruction in Primary Schools. 

N. E. A. 1898, 544-550. 

292. Fitz, G. W., Should Children under Ten Learn to Read and 

Write ? Pop. Sci. Mo. 1899, liv, 382-392. 

293. Patrick, G. T. W., Mental Waste and Economy. N. E. A. 

1893, 725-729. 

294. Curtis, H. S., Inhibition. Ped. Sem. 1898, vi, 65-113. 

295. Hall, G. S., Children's Lies. Ped. Sem. 1891, i, 211- 

218. 

296. Hall, G. S., Some Social Aspects of Education. Ped. Sem. 

1902, ix, 81-91. 

297. Hawn, L. M., Children's Voices. N. E. A. 1896, 790-793. 

298. Burnham,W. H., Imagination of Children. Ped. Sem. 1893, 

ii, 204-225. 

299. Small, M. H., Suggestibility of Children. Ped. Sem. 1896, 

iv, 176-220. 

300. Russell, E. H., Imitation. Boston, 1896. 

301. Haskell, E. M., Imitation. Ped. Sem. 1894, iii, 30-47. 

302. Frear, C, Imitation. Ped. Sem. 1897, iv, 382-386. 

303. Bohannon, E. W., Only Child in a Family. Ped. Sem. 1898, 

V, 475-496. 

304. Yoder, A. H., Boyhood of Great Men. Ped. Sem. 1894, iii, 

134-156. 



APPENDIX 283 

305. Johnson, G. E., An Educational Experiment. Ped. Sem. 

1899, vi, 513-622. 

306. Search, P. W., The Ideal School. New York, 1901, 357 pp. 

307. Guillet, C. A. Glimpse at a Nature School. Ped. Sem. 1904, 

ii, 91-98. 

308. MacMillan, D. P., Diagnosis of Capabilities of School Chil- 

dren. N. E. A. 1904, 738-744. 

309. Bryan, S. C, How to tell Stories to Children. Boston, 1905, 

pp. 260. Bib. 

CHAPTER XII 

THE GIRL AND THE BOY IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES 

Puberty 
See 115. 

315. Marro, A., La Puberte. Paris, 1902, 536 pp. 

316. Marro, A., Pubertal Hygiene. Am. Journ. Sociology, 1900, 

vi, 224-237. 

317. Engelmann, G. J., The American Girl of To-day. Am. Phys. 

Ed. Rev. 1901, vi, 28-66. Bib. 

318. Yoder, A. H., Differentiation in Secondary Education. N. 

E. A. 1903, 785-790. 
See also 195. 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE BOY AND THE GIRL IN THE HIGH SCHOOL 

325. Hall, G. S., Moral and Religious Training, etc. Ped. Sem. 

1891, i, 196-210. 

326. Burnham, W. H,, The Study of Adolescence. Ped. Sem. 

1891, i, 196-210. 

327. Lancaster, E. G., Psychology and Pedagogy of Adolescence. 

Ped. Sem. 1897, v, 61-128. 

328. Daniels, A. H., The New Life. Am. Journ. Psy. 1893, vi, 

61-106. Bib. 

329. Thwing, C. F., The Best Thing College Does for a Man. 

Forum, 1896, xxi, 44-52. 

330. Tucker, W. J., Relation of High School to Higher Educa- 

tion. Ed. 1897, xviii, 579-587. 



284 APPENDIX 

331. Duttou, S. T., Social Phases of Education. New York, 1889, 

259 pp. 

332. Dutton, S. T., Place and Function of High School Educa- 

tion. Ed. 1898, xviii, 587-596. 

333. Cowell, H. C, School Ethics. Pop. Sci. Mo. 1895, xlvi, 

363-366. 

334. Atkinson, F. W., Study of First Year in High School Pupils. 

N. E. A. 1898, 903-910. 

335. Hall, G. S., Psychic Arrest in Adolescence. N. E. A. 1903, 

811^813. 

336. Ellis, A. C, Percentage of Boys leaving High School. N. 

E. A. 1903, 792-798. 

337. Gay, G. C, Why Pupils leave High School. Ed. 1902, 

xxii, 300-307. 

338. Corson, H., Aims of Literary Study. New York, 1901, 

153 pp. 

339. Harris, W. T., Psychologic Foundation of Education. New 

York, 1898, 400. 

340. Kipling, R., Pharaoh and the Sergeant. McClure's Mag. 

1897, ix, 925-927. 

341. Book, W. F., Why Pupils drop out of High School. Ped. 

Sem. 1904, xi, 204-232. 

342. Smith, F. W., The High School and the Adolescent. Phy- 

sical Relations. Jour, of Pedagogy, 1904, xvii, 114-131. 

343. Terman, L. M., Study of Leadership. Ped. Sem. 1904, 

xi, 413-461. 

344. Book, W. F., The High School Teacher seen from Pupil's 

Point of View. Ped. Sem. 1905, xii, 239-288. 

345. Coe, G. H., The Spiritual Life. New York, 1900, pp. 279. 

346. Starbuck, E. D., The Psychology of Religion. New York, 

1900. pp.420. 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE PLACE OF PLAY IN EDUCATION 

350. Groos, K., Die Spiele der Menschen. Jena, 1899, pp. 538. 

351. Groos, K., Plays of Man. 

352. Groos, K., The Play of Animals. New York, 1898, pp. 341o 

353. Nitsch, A., Spielbuch fur Madchen von 6-16 Jahren. Berlin, 

1899, pp. 291. 



APPENDIX ^z85 

354. Gulick, L. H., Some Psychical Aspects of Muscular Exer- 

cise. Pop. Sci. Mo. liii, 793-805. 

355. Gulick, L. H., Psychological, Pedagogical, and Religious 

Aspects of Group Games. Ped. Sem. vi, 135-151, 1899. 

356. Johnson, G. E., Children's Games as Means for avoiding 

Overpressure. Am. Phys. Ed. Rev. 1901, vi, 160-169. 

357. Johnson, G. E., Play in Physical Education. N. E. A. 1898. 

948-954. Also in Am. Phys. Ed. Rev. 1898, iii, 179- 
187. 

358. Johnson, G. E., Education by Plays and Games. Ped. Sem. 

1894, iii, 97-133. Bib. 

359. Hall, G. S., Play and Work. N. E. A. 1901, 519-523. 

360. Crosswell, F. R., Amusements of Worcester School Chil- 

dren. Ped. Sem. 1899, vi, 314-371. 

361. Hughes, J. L., Educational Value of Play. Ed. Rev. 1894, 

viii, 327-336. 

362. Felker, A. M., Play in Child's Experience. N. E. A. 1898, 

624-640. 

363. Fitz, G. W., Play as a Factor in Development. Am. Phys. 

Ed. Rev. 1897, ii, 209-215. 

364. LaGrange, F., Free Play in Education. Pop. Sci. Mo. 1893, 

xlii, 813-820. 

365. O'Shea, M. V., Work and Play in Youth. N. E. A. 1901, 

513-518. 

366. Monroe, W., Play Interests. N. E. A. 1899, 1084-1090. 

367. Page, F. S., Teaching Arithmetic by Playing Store. School 

Journ. Ixvii, Ixviii, 521-522. 

368. Parsons, B. R., Physical Training by Play. School Journ. 

Ixix, 520-522. 

369. O'Grady, C. G., Elements in Work and Play. N. E. A, 

1901, 527-532. 

370. Powe, C. M., Work and Play. N. E. A. 1901, 527-532. 

371. Putnam, A. H., Work and Play in Kindergarten. N. E. A. 

1901, 502-507. 

372. Lee, J., Education in Play-grounds. Ed. Rev. xxii, 449-471, 

1901. 

373. Bradley, J. E., Relation of Play to Character. Ed. xix, 

406-413. 

374. Bushnell,H., Work and Play. New York, 1864. (Excellent.) 
For full Bibliography of Subject, see 380, pp. 46-49. 



286 APPENDIX 

CHAPTER XV 

PHYSICAL TRAINING — GYMNASTICS 

380. McCnrdy, J. H., Bibliography of Physical Training. Spring- 

field, 1905. 

381. Guliek, L. H., Physical Education. Philadelphia, 1904, 

369 p. 

382. Treves, F., Physical Education. Phil. 1892, 115 pp. 

383. Sargent, D. A., Health, Strength, and Power. Boston, 1904. 

384. Hartwell, E. M., Physical Training. Report U. S. Com. of. 

Ed. i, 487-587, 1897-'98. 

385. Hartwell, E. M. Physical Training. Am. Phys. Ed. Rev. 

ii, 133-151, 1897. 

386. Hartwell, E. M., Physical Education as Educational Disci- 

pline. A. A. A. P. E. 88-100, 1894. 

387. Hartwell, E. M., Physical Training at Elmira Reformatory. 

Phys. Ed. V, 48. 

388. Guliek, L. H., Problem of Physical Training in Modern City. 

Am. Phys. Ed. Rev. viii, 27-35, 1903. 

389. Guliek, L., H. Interest in relation to Physical Education. Am. 

Phys. Ed. Rev. vii, 57-65, 1902. 

390. Lincoln, D. F., Motor Element in Education. Am. Phys. 

Ed. Rev. ii, 65-72, 1897. 

391. Phillips, P. C., Hygienic, Corrective, and Educational Aim 

in Exercise for College Students. Am. Phys. Ed. Rev. 
1900, V, 67-73. 

392. Sargent, D. A., Place for Physical Training. Am. Phys. Ed. 

Rev. 1901, vi, 110-121. 

393. Wey, H. D., Physical Training of Criminals. A. A. A. P. E. 

1903, 34-45; 1888, 17-35, New York. 

394. Wey, H. D., Year Books of Elmira Reformatory. Elmira 

N. Y., 1892, '93, '95, '97. 

395. Physical Training in Educational Curriculum. Discussion. 

Am. Phys. Ed. Rev. 1899, iv, 217-224. 

396. Balliet, T. M., Value of Motor Education. Journ. of Ed. 

1898, xlviii, 317. 

397. Ballin, H., Symmetry in Education, Mind, and Body. 1896, 

iii, 1-4, 65-68. 

398. Ballin, H., Physical Training. N. E. A. 1901, 765-769. 

399. Bissell, M. T., Athletics for City Girls. Pop. Sci. Mo. 1894^ 

xlvi, 145-153. 



APPENDIX 287 

400. Chanuing, W., Physical Training in Childhood. Ed. Rev. 

1895, X, 262-265. 

401. Dutton, S. T., Time for Physical Training. Am. Phys. Ed. 

Rev. 1901, vi, 204-211. 

402. Ehler, G. W., Principles underlying Physical Education. 

Am. Phys. Ed. Rev. 1902, vii, 66-79. Bib. 

403. Hain, F. H., Physical Education. Ed. xxiv, 356. 

404. Hall, G. S., Relations between Physical and Mental Train- 

ing. A. A. A. P. E. 1894, 30-37. 

405. Hall, G. S., Christianity and Physical Training. Ped. Sem. 

1902, ix, 374-377. 

406. Graves, A. P., Physical Education in Primary Schools. 

Contemp. Rev. 1904, Ixxxv, 888-898. 

407. Kellor, F. A., Psychological Basis for Physical Culture. 

Ed. 1898, xix, 100-104. 

408. Krohn, W. O., Physical Education in Brain-Building. N. 

E. A. 1903, 818-823. 

409. Krohn, W. O., Development of Will through Physical Train- 

ing. N. E. A. 1897, 873-880. 

410. Lndlam, M. H., Physical Training in High School. N. E. A. 

1904, 827-832. 

411. Lyttle, E. W., Place of Physical Education in Curriculum. 

N. E. A. 1903, 823-828. 

412. Mosso, A., Physical Education of Young. Rep. Com. of Ed. 

of U. S. 1897-98, ii, 1715. 

413. O'Shea, M. V., Physical Training and Mental Activity. Am. 

Phys. Ed. Rev. ix, 28-35. 

414. Patrick, G. T. W., Psychology of Foot-Ball. Am. Journ. Psy. 

1903, xiv, 375. 

415. Pierce, J. M., Psychological Aspects of Physical Education. 

Am. Phys. Ed. Rev. 1898. iii, 30-37. 

416. Porter, H., Philosophy of Courage. Century. 1888. xxxvi, 

246-254. 

417. Richards, E. L., Physical Element in Education. Pop. Sci. 

Mo. 1895. xlvii, 471-477. 

418. Scripture, E. W., Psychological Aspects of Physical Educa- 

tion. Am. Phys. Ed. Rev. 1901, vi, 298, 299. 

419. Simpson, F. T., Need of Physical Education in our Public 

Schools. Am. Phys. Ed. Rev. 1901, vi, 135-142. 

420. Stecker, W. H., Physical Training in Primary and Grammar 

Schools. N. E. A. 1904, 810-817. 



288 APPENDIX 

421. Taylor, H. L., Exercise and Vigor. Am. Phys. Ed. Ray. 

1898, iii, 249-257. 

422. Truslow, W., Exercise during Adolescence. Am. Phys. Ed. 

Rev. 1898, iii, 120. Bib. 

423. Wittich, G., Educational Gymnastics for Pupils of Six to 

Nine. Mind and Body, 1896, iii, 105, 106, 127-131. 

424. Worcester, A., Gymnastics. Pop. Sci. Mo. 1883, xxiii, 77- 

85. 

For special Bibliography of Gymnastics, see 380, pp. 
161-178, 349-362. 



CHAPTER XVI 

MANUAL TRAINING 

430. Woodward, C. M., Manual Training in Education. New 

York, 1902, 307 pp. 

431. Report of Conference on Manual Training. Boston, 1891, 

182 pp. 

432. Baylies, A., Industrial Training in Rural Schools. N. E. A. 

1903, 185-193. 

433. Baylies, A., Manual Training in Country Schools. N. E A. 

1904, 623-627. 

434. Booth, E. R., Philosophy of Manual Training. N. E. A. 

1895, 720-731. 

435. Bradley, J. E., Manual Training in Grammar Grades. N. 

E. A. 1890, 834-842. 

436. Calkins, N. A., Manual Training in Primary Classes. N. 

E. A. 1890, 828-834. 

437. Carroll, C. F., Manual Training and the Course of Study. 

N. E. A. 1896, 778-786. 1901. 

438. Carroll, C. F., Manual Training. Ed. 1901, xxii, 23-27. 

439. Crawford, T. O., Manual Training in Grammar School. N. 

E. A. 1888, 570-582. 

440. Eby, F., Value of Manual Training Education. Ed. 1898, 

xviii, 491-495. 

441. Gilbert, C. B., Manual Training. Ed. 1897, xviii, 194-204. 

442. Hailmann, W. N., Manual Training in Elementary School. 

N. E. A. 1890, 842-850. 

443. Harris, W. T., Intellectual Value of Tool-Work. N. E. A. 

1889, 92-98. 



APPENDIX 289 

444. Harris, W. T., Psychology of Manual Training. Ed. 1889, 

ix, 571-586, 656-664. 

445. Henderson, C. H., Spirit of Manual Training. Pop. Sci. Mo. 

1889, XXXV, 433-447. 

446. Henderson, C. H., Philosophy of Manual Training. Pop. 

Sci. Mo. 1898, liii, 145-159, 772-788. Cf. xlvi, 48-62, 
799-814. 

447. James, H. M., Manual Training in Elementary Schools. 

N. E. A. 1890, 850-858. 

448. Kenyon, W. J., Reasons for Manual Training. Ed. xxv, 

65. 

449. Keyes, C. H., Industrial (and Manual) Training. N. E. A. 

1895, 731-741. 

450. Kock, H. E., Manual Training in Schools of Germany. Ed. 

xxiii, 193. 

451. Kropotkin, P., Manual Training and Brain Work. Nine- 

teenth Century, 1890, xxvii, 456-475. 

452. Lenfest, B. A., High School Courses in Manual Training. 

N. E. A. 1900, 495-501. 

453. Lubbock, J., Manual Training. Pop. Sci. Mo. 1887, xxx, 

327-336. 

454. Magnus, P., Manual Training in Relation to Health. Ed. 

Rev. iii, 78-86. 

455. Magnus, P., Manual Training in Public Schools. Pop. Sci. 

Mo. 1887, xxxi, 493-502. 

456. Richards, C. R., Manual Training; a Subject or a Method of 

Instruction. Ed. Rev. 1904, xxvii, 369-374. 

457. Richards, E. H., Domestic Science for Girls. N.E.A. 1898, 

766-773. 

458. Todd, J. L., Manual Training Methods. N. E. A. 1894, 

886-891. 

459. Vrooman, G., Manual Training for Women. Arena, 1895, 

xiv, 308-316. Bib. 

460. Walker, F. A., Manual Training in Public Schools. N. E. A. 

1887, 196-205. 

461. Washington, B. T., Moral Value of Manual Training. 

Everybody's Mag. viii, 145, 286, vii, 297. 

462. Woodward, C. M., Manual Training in Education. Ed. 

1884, iv, 228-243; 1885, v, 614-626. 

463. Woodward, C. M., Fruits of Manual Training. Pop. Sci. 

Mo. 1884, xxv, 317-357. 



;] 



290 APPENDIX 

464. Woodward, CM., Results of St. Louis Manual Training 

School. N. E. A. 1889, 73-91. 
485. Woodward, C. M., Function of Public School. N. E. A. 
1887, 212-224. 

For farther references see Monroe, W., Bibliography of 
Education, pp. 105-109. 

School Hygiene 

505. Burnham, W. H,, Bibliography of School Hygiene. N. E.A. 
1898, 505-523. 

606. Biirgerstein und Netolitzky. Handbuch der Schulhygiene. 

2d ed. Jena, 1902, 997 p. Full bibliographies and In- 
dex. A most excellent work. 

607. Eulenberg und Bach. Schulgesundheitslehre. Berlin. 

508. Kotelmann, L., School Hygiene. Trans. Bergstrom. Syra- 
cuse, 1899. 

609. Burnham, W. H., School Hygiene. Ped. Sem. 1892, ii, 9- 

71. 

610. Christian, O., Hearing of Children. Ped. Sem. 1892, ii, 

397-441. 
511. Cohn, H., Eyes and School-Books. Pop. Sci. Mo. 1881, 
xix, 54-59. 

612. Groozman, M. P. E., School Hygiene. Am. Phys. Ed. Rev. 

vii, 86-97. 

613. Hartwell, E. M., Health of School-Girls. Am. Phys. Ed. 

Rev. vii, 140. 

614. Kellogg, J. H., Physical Deterioration and School-Life. 

N. E. A. 1896, 899-911. 

615. Kingsley, C, Health and Education. New York, 1884. 

616. Lincoln, D. F., Hygiene of Public Schools in Massachu- 

setts. Forty-second Annual Report of State Board of 
Education, 1877, 1878. 

617. Lincoln, D. F., Essentials of School Hygiene. Trans. 111. 

Soc. for Child-Study, 1895, i, 3, 65-66. 
518. Lincoln, D. F., School and Industrial Hygiene. Philadelphia, 
1880. 

619. Lincoln, D. F., Ventilation and Heating of Schools. N. E. A. 

1895, 934-943. 

For other important works see author's name in 505. 

620. Lovett, R. W., Health of School Girls. Am. Phys. Ed. Rev. 

1902, vii, 135-143. 



APPENDIX 291 

521. Meyer, B., The Child, Physically and Mentally. Trans, by 

Salomon. New York, 1893. 

522. Rankin, F. H., Hygiene of Childhood. New York, 1890. 

523. Newsholme, A., School Hygiene. Boston, 1894. 

524. Swift, E. J., Eye-Defects in Students and Children. Ped. 

Sem. 1897, v, 202-270. 
625. Young, Chapter on School Hygiene in Seventh Annual 
Report of Board of Health of State of Maine. A most 
admirable report, which should be reprinted. 
See also Bibliography in 380, p. 151. 

The following bibliographies will be found very useful : 

Bibliography of Child-Study. Prepared annually by Dr. Louis 
N. Wilson, Librarian of Clark University. Very complete, in- 
cluding foreign as well as American publications, and with classi- 
fied index. 

Annual, classified list of English and American books and 
articles on Education in volumes of Educational Review. 

Library Bulletin of Columbia University. No. 2. Books on 
Education. New York, 1901. 435 p. 

Bibliography of Education. By W. S. Munroe. New York, 
1897. 3000 books and pamphlets. 

See index volume of Reports of National Teachers' Association 
and of National Educational Association. 1857-1897. 

See also Reference Lists in 116, 126, 230, 380. 

506 has full lists of references on all subjects. Very complete 
for German literature. 



INDEX 



Adler, Felix, manual training, 237. 

Adolescence, 179. 

Anderson, W. G., 167. See Bib. No. 

1-27. 
Athletes, power of, 208, 223. 
Athletics, 181, 216. 
Atwater, W. D., food required at 

different ages, 85. 

Bailey, H. T., drawing, 144. 

Baxter, J. H., professions and health, 
9 ; stature and health, 160. 

Beard, G. M., nervousness, 10. 

Brain, 31, 45; growth of, 71; and 
hand, 44, 228. 

Bryan, W. L,, motor ability, 71. 

Bryant, Sara Cone, stories, 150. 

Burgerstein, L., mortality of girls, 
164. 

Burk, F. L., growth, vii; kindergar- 
ten, 135 ; plays, 205. 

Character, development of, 194. 

Childhood, 199. 

Child-study, importance of, 79, 107, 
114. 

Christopher, W. S., "fatigue year," 
140. 

Circulation, 82. 

City, 6. 

Clouston, T. S., incompletely devel- 
oped organs, 60. 

Constitution, 104. 

Consumption, 7, 99, 165. 

Cooking, 233. 

Cortex, 32. 

Crichton-Browne, J., consumption in 
females, 100. 

Digestive system, 81, 85. 
Donaldson, H. H., growth of brain, 
72, 145. 

Education and efficiency, 1, 15, 38, 
53, 87, 136, 194, 207, 223, 231, 250. 



Ellis, Havelock, health of women, 93. 

Embryology, 49. 

Emotions, importance of, 46, 148, 
185. 

Engelmann, G. J., health of girls, 
174. 

Examinations, 171, 190. 

Expression through manual train- 
ing, 238. 

Farm life, 4, 145, 246. 

Gardens, school, 202. 

Gilbert, J. A., motor ability, 71 ; fa- 
tigue, 71 ; lung capacity and mental 
ability, 84. 

Growth, expensive, 86, 158 ; import- 
ance of, 243 ; stages of, 56 ; success- 
ive and by parts, 74. 

Gulick, L. H., plays and games, 203. 

Gymnastics, 218. 

Hall, 6. S., farm training, 5 ; adoles- 
cence, 108; children's minds, 136; 
feelings, 148. 

Hall, W. S., girths, 263. 

Hartwell, E. M., mortality in Boston, 
93, 134, 269. 

Health and efficiency, 16, 162, 242. 

Heart, 82, 179, 182. 

Height, 65; boys, 263; girls, 266. 

Hertel, A., morbidity, 95, 100. 

Hitchcock, Edward, weightof adults, 
64 ; height of adults, 65. See also 
263. 

Holt, L. E., infancy, 122. See also 
263. 

Hygiene, preventive and curative, 
109, 128, 207, 251. 

Imagination, 77, 204. 
Infancy, 115. 
Interest, 60, 75, 142. 

Key, A., morbidity, 96, 100. 270. 



294 



INDEX 



Kidneys, 16, 26, 265, 268. 
Kindergarten, 129. 
Kipling, Rudyard, 149, 196. 

Laboratory, 230. 

Lagrange, Ferdinand, gymnastics, 

221. 
Literature, teaching of, 191. 
Liver, 81. 

Loclce, John, education, 214. 
Lungs, 83, 90, 167. 

Manual training, 228. 

Measurements, physical, 226. 

Metabolism, 84. 

Metamorphosis, preparation for, 
142, 163, 175, 187. 

Meynert's projection area, 34. 

Morals, 210 ; of child, 148 ; of adoles- 
cent, 186. 

Morbidity, 95; during infancy, 126; 
of child, 134, 141; pubertal, 163; 
adolescent, 181. 

Mortality, 92 ; during infancy, 125 ; 
during childhood, 134, 141. 

Muscles, fundamental and access- 
ory, 29, 40. 

Muscular system, growth of, 69 ; and 
vital organs, 26, 43, 198, 207 ; and 
brain, 26, 31, 39, 45, 137, 201, 208. 

Nature and education, 19, 51, 58, 243. 
Nervous system and muscles, 30, 39, 
137, 201. 

Nervous weakness, 10, 128 ; preven- 
tion of, 40, 45. 



Periods of life, 108. 

Periods, critical, 140, 143, 160, 170,187. 

Physical training, 168, 181, 198. 

Plato, truth and beauty, 189. 

Play, 135, 203. 

Precocity, 58. 

Proportions of body, 153, 157, 160, 

181. 
Puberty, 156, 199. 

Quetelet, L. A. J., puberty, 158. See 
also 263. 

Eeligion, 186. 

Schmid-Monnard, C, morbidity, 97, 
100, 141, 164; loss of weight at 
school, 151. 

Sedentary Ufe, 10. 

Standish, Myles, near-sightedness in 
children, 142. 

Story value of, 150. 

Symmetry, 19, 38, 105. 

Taylor, J. P., children's hopes, 142. 

Uffelmann, J., food of infant, 119; 
infant mortality, 125, 127. 

Walker, F. A., manual training, 231. 
Weight, 64 ; of boys, 263 ; of girls, 

266. 
Wey, H. D., manual training, 229. 
Will, training of, 202, 253. 
Wright, Carroll D., growth of 

cities, 6. 



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